Anwar: Don't force Syariah Court on non-Muslims

The Straits Times, April 10, 2007
By Ling Chang Hong


He says they should be allowed to turn to civil courts in religious disputes

NON-MUSLIMS in Malaysia should be allowed to turn to civil courts instead of being forced to go to the Syariah Court in disputes over religion, former Malaysian deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim said yesterday.

Datuk Seri Anwar, who was a guest speaker at the Foreign Correspondents Association's annual gala dinner at the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore, was referring to the recent spate of disputes involving the rights of non-Muslims in cases of conversion.

'Freedom of religion is enshrined in the Constitution. There is no basis to compel non-Muslims to go to the Syriah Court,' he told an audience of about 100 people.

The reluctance of Malaysia's civil courts to hear inter-religious disputes has triggered several controversies.

These include a 2005 case in which the widow of former soldier M. Moorthy battled with the Islamic authorities after they claimed his body for burial. She insisted that Mr Moorthy, who had converted to Islam without his family's knowledge, was a Hindu.

Datuk Seri Anwar said he saw the rise in religious disputes as a failure on the part of the government rather than an Islamic issue.

He said he saw no difficulty as a Muslim in trying to act as a bridge between the opposition Democratic Action Party and PAS on this issue.

'When I go to Terengganu tomorrow, I will be telling the people that Malaysia is and will remain a multi-racial country.'

The ex-minister-turned-dissident spoke briefly on the issue of democracy in Asia last night, but spent much of the session criticising the Malaysian government for its shortcomings.

'PM Abdullah is a decent, nice guy...but he has failed to act,' he said, rattling off a list of things left undone, such as the fight against corruption and failure to scrap the New Economic Policy, the affirmative action programme which he blames for Malaysia's poor showing in attracting foreign investment.

Datuk Seri Anwar was heir-apparent to then leader Mahathir Mohamad until 1998, when he was sacked after facing sodomy and corruption charges that landed him in jail for six years.

His sodomy conviction was overturned but the corruption verdict still stands, barring him from standing for public office until April 2008.

Datuk Seri Anwar vowed yesterday that he would appeal against the ban.

He also did not rule out plans to re-enter politics via a by-election after next April.

Asked about his future plans, he said he has been approached by Umno, but has no intention of rejoining the party, which he said was graft-ridden.

For now, he is concentrating on building up his party Keadilan and fighting the next general election, expected to be held later this year.