KL court rules on apostasy case today

The Straits Times, May 30, 2007
By Carolyn Hong, Malaysia Bureau Chief

Verdict will set precedent for other cases involving religious freedom

KUALA LUMPUR - WHEN Ms Lina Joy converted from Islam to Christianity nine years ago, she had no inkling that her decision would send reverberations throughout Malaysia.
Her case has become a test case for religious freedom in Malaysia.

The country's highest court, the Federal Court, will deliver its judgment today on whether the National Registration Department can insist that she obtains a declaration of apostasy from the Syariah Court before it will delete 'Islam' from her identity card.

Ms Lina, 42, is ethnic Malay and born a Muslim.

Her case goes to the very core of a sensitive issue: Do Muslims in Malaysia have a choice of religion? In Islam, apostasy is one of the gravest sins.

The case will also determine the extent of the jurisdiction of the Syariah Court.

Malaysia has parallel court systems for family and religious cases, but there is no clarity in the law as to which court should hear apostasy cases and those that involve both Muslims and non-Muslims.

Ms Lina's case has become the rallying call for Malaysians who fear an increasing Islamisation of the country.

But to Muslims, the case undermines Islam.

The opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia and two Muslim groups have called for special prayers for a judgment 'in favour of Islam'. But they also urged Muslims to stay calm.

Today's judgment is a key verdict that could help resolve many cases that have been put on the back-burner.

One is the appeal filed by the widow of the late M. Moorthy, a soldier who was buried as a Muslim by the religious authorities after he converted to Islam.

His wife insists that he was Hindu and wants his body exhumed for a Hindu cremation. The civil court has not decided whether the case belongs in the civil or syariah system.

Other disputes include a custody battle between a Hindu woman and her husband who converted their children to Islam.

There are also several apostasy cases in the civil court.

Ms Lina's lawyer, Mr Benjamin Dawson, said some of these controversies could benefit from today's judgment which, coming from the highest court, must be followed by the lower courts.

'Much of the case had revolved around the position of Islam as the official religion of Malaysia vis-�-vis the rest of the Constitution,' Mr Dawson told The Straits Times.

He said that if the country's highest court gave a clear construction on this point, it could provide guidance for future cases.

'The court allowed full arguments on the wide ranging issues, and it would be a pity if it did not take the opportunity to address them,' he said.

Strictly speaking, the court could stick to the factual issues in Ms Lina's case, that is, whether the registration department can refuse to delete Islam from her identity card without a declaration of apostasy from the Syariah Court.

There is such a requirement in law, but it only went into force after she filed her application to the registration department.

To Ms Lina, the decision will bring some finality to her long quest.

She has already given up her sales job due to pressure over the case and has had to postpone marriage to her Christian boyfriend.

'She hopes for a breakthrough after these years,' said Mr Dawson.

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Three cases of religious conversion still pending

In December 2005, 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. She appealed to the Civil Court of Appeal to overturn the decision to release the body to the Islamic authorities. The case is still pending.

Mrs R. Subashini, a Hindu woman, is fighting to prevent her estranged husband from converting their one-year-old son to Islam. Her husband, Mr T. Saravanan, who became a Muslim last year, has already converted their elder son, three, without her knowledge. The civil court ruled in April that she can seek redress only from the Syariah Court. She has obtained permission to appeal to the Federal Court and is also challenging the conversion of her elder son.
Lorry driver Magendran Sababathy, a Hindu, filed a suit in the civil

High Court in May against Selangor's Islamic affairs department for detaining his Muslim wife, apparently for religious rehabilitation. Mr Sababathy said that he and Ms Najeera Farvinli Mohamed Jalali, of Indian descent and was born a Muslim, were married at a Hindu temple.