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Malaysian court rejects woman's bid to leave Islam
The Associated Press , Kuala Lumpur | Wed, 08/06/2008 5:01 PM | World
A Malaysian court on Wednesday rejected a Muslim woman's appeal to convert back to Christianity, the latest case to test the limits of religious freedom in the country.
The Court of Appeal threw out Noorashikin Lim Abdullah's bid to renounce Islam on technical grounds - that she used her original Chinese name in her suit, her lawyer Edmond Bon said.
The court said the appellant was not legally recognized because her Chinese name - Lim Yoke Khoon - no longer existed following her conversion to Islam in 1994, Bon told The Associated Press.
A Chinese judge on the three-man panel dissented, he said.
"The court rejected the appeal on technical grounds, not on merit. We believe they are afraid to hear the case" because of the sensitivity of the issue, Bon said.
Lim, 35, is likely to appeal to the country's top civil court, he added.
A rising number of disputes about religious conversions have sparked anxiety among minorities - Buddhists, Christians and Hindus - because courts almost always rule against people seeking to leave Islam, which is Malaysia's official religion.
Lim married a Muslim man in 1994, converted to Islam and obtained a new identity card with her Muslim name. But she divorced three years later and wants to convert back to Christianity, Bon said.
In 2003, she applied to change her name and religion on her identity card but the National Registration Department told her to she must get permission from the Islamic Shariah Court to
renounce Islam, Bon said.
Lim turned to the high court seeking a declaration that she was no longer a Muslim but the court ruled in 2006 that it had no jurisdiction to hear the case, Bon said.
Malaysia has a dual court system with civil courts for non- Muslims and Shariah courts for Muslims.
Ethnic Chinese and Indians, who account for more than 30 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people, have complained that court decisions in religious disputes favor Muslims - who account
for more than 60 percent and are mainly ethnic Malay.(**)
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Al (not verified) — Sun, 08/10/2008 - 4:53am
What would make someone force another person to worship a certain religion? You just cant force someone to feel a certain way in their heart. Although I would go through the motions,I would reject it in my soul. Just goes to show you how pitiful humans really are. Im ashamed to be human sometimes to be honest when i see foolishness like this
Anjza Lombok (not verified) — Fri, 08/08/2008 - 6:14pm
This is not the matter of Islam or Christian or whatever, I think. This is a merely a politization of religion. Here in my Kampong, nobody will have go to court to change their belief. It's sounds a bit ridiculous. If the judge are moslems, they will, off course, deny your appeal.
It's just not the area where the state should play its important role. Religious belief private domain?
LSP (not verified) — Thu, 08/07/2008 - 3:47pm
Why they make it so complicated about other peoples' faith. I lived in Malaysia for 4 years, and i heard about local "malay" people who wanted to convert their religion, they had to migrate to Singapore. I know Malaysia is moslem country, but can the government respect their people beliefs in case of conversion. It's like the malay people have to stick on moslem, they CANNOT be christian, budhist, or hindus. When I stayed there, I was considered as a Malay, and there were 2 malaysian asked me to convert to moslem. So what? They really can't accept that. This is human rights, government can't limit peoples' rights.
Karim (not verified) — Thu, 08/07/2008 - 1:13pm
Are we sure we're in the 21st century? This really is Dark Ages stuff, when the state & certain religions put themselves above the essentially personal relationship between a man/woman and his/her god.
Gerry (not verified) — Thu, 08/07/2008 - 12:33pm
How can they claim themselves to be "Truly Asia" with such discriminatory attitudes riddled in their legal system. Truly they fail in all respects to represent an all round Asian society. They do so only at the prospect of material gains. What a shame.
Ekyah (not verified) — Thu, 08/07/2008 - 12:27pm
Why I’m not surprised?!
Is this is some sort of gang-life, mafia-style fatwa?
Is it the same when joining a Mafia gang, and once you join them, you can't just leave like that?
The moral of the story then would be,
Think before you join them. You might regret it.
Glorfindel (not verified) — Wed, 08/06/2008 - 7:41pm
Absolutely contemptible.
To all those Muslims who bellyache about how Westerners insult Islam: Your own behaviour, in so very many ways, insults civilized values. Your own behaviour brings Islam into disrepute.
Endo (not verified) — Wed, 08/06/2008 - 6:31pm
Clearly, there is no religious freedom in Malaysia. Religious freedom includes the freedom to leave or to convert to a religion.