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Web posted at: 8/14/2006 1:41:42
Source ::: REUTERS http://feeds.malaysianews.net/?rid=fb41ef0bc74cb3df&cat=48cba686fe041718&f=1
kuala lumpur • Malaysia is expecting a court ruling
any day now that could shake society to its
foundations: does a Muslim have the right to convert
to another faith?
A Muslim by birth, Lina Joy decided to become a
Christian, marry and raise a family. But in
Malaysia, where Islam is the official religion, this
is an affair of state, not conscience.
The 42-year-old has asked the Federal Court, the
country’s highest civil judicial authority, to
acknowledge her decision to convert to Christianity
and is now awaiting a verdict.
Whatever the outcome, the decision could pose a
headache for a government that is trying to meet the
demands of the majority Muslim population and the
sizeable minority of non-Muslims.
“The fundamental question in Lina’s case is whether
Muslims in this country can convert?” said political
analyst Abdul Razak Baginda.
It’s a tricky legal question in multiracial,
multi-religious Malaysia. Ethnic Malays, who make up
just over half of Malaysia’s 26 million people, are
deemed Muslims from birth.
Azlina Jailani was one of them. She was brought up
as a Muslim but at the age of 26 she decided to
become a Christian.
In 1999, the National Registration Department
allowed her to change the name in her identity card
to Lina Joy but the ID entry for her religion
remained as “Islam”.
Until the entry is deleted, she cannot legally marry
outside the Muslim faith. The legal wrangling began
when she took the department to court over the
anomaly.
Joy could not be reached for comment.
Constitutionally, freedom of religion is guaranteed.
But in reality, conversion out of Islam comes under
the ambit of sharia or Islamic courts. And under
sharia law, renouncing the Islamic faith is
punishable by fines or jail. It isn’t an option.
Muslims who leave Islam end up in legal limbo,
unable to register their new religious affiliations
or to legally marry non-Muslims. Many keep quiet
about their choice or emigrate.
A court victory for Joy could be explosive. “It’s
political dynamite. It will create instability,”
Abdul Razak said. “For decades, the position of
Malays and Muslims have been guaranteed.
“It will open the floodgates. Now you see Malays are
going to convert and the government sanctions that.
Definitely there will be a huge backlash and PAS is
going to town with it.”
Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), the country’s biggest
Islamic opposition party, agrees. “It will be a bad
precedent,” PAS deputy chief Nasharuddin Mat Isa
told Reuters. “It will create some uneasiness in the
Malay community. It could lead to demonstrations.”
The influential Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia, the
Muslim youth group once led by former deputy premier
Anwar Ibrahim, wrote a letter asking the Federal
Court to dismiss the appeal. “Allowing Malays to
leave Islam automatically will erode the status, the
rights and the privileges of Malays,” it said.
But a ruling against Joy could also inflame opinion
among non-Muslims, who are already aggrieved over
what they see as the gradual encroachment of Islamic
law into civil society.
“If they rule against Lina Joy, the whole question
of religious liberty —the freedom of conscience,
choice, expression and thought of an individual —
will be greatly affected,” said Wong Kim Kong,
secretary-general of the National Evangelical
Christian Fellowship Malaysia, which represents
about two-thirds of Malaysia’s roughly 4,000
churches.
But he agreed that a court victory for Joy could
spark a Muslim backlash. “This group may sow discord
or even create public disorder that will result in
greater polarisation of the races and religion in
the country,” Wong said.
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