MUST READ: MALAYSIA'S 'MODERATE' ISLAM MEANS RACISM & OPPRESSION

Malaysia's 'Moderate' Islam Means Racism and Oppression
by Adrian Morgan

Once Inside Islam, No One Gets Out

In April last year, I wrote about the totalitarian aspects of Malaysia's society. Since that time, the situations described then have been repeated and appear to have worsened. General elections were officially due to take place in 2009, but last month, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi suggested he would be bringing these elections forward. The elections may take place as early as March this year.

Malaysia's population of 27 million is, according to the UK government, 55% Muslim. The U.S. State Department maintains that 60% of the population is Muslim. Ethnic Malays are automatically classed as Muslim on their identity cards (MyKad) which are issued to everyone at age 12. Any changes to religious status, as defined on the MyKad, must be approved by the National Registration Department (NRD).

The NRD will not accept anyone's conversion out of Islam unless this has been approved by a Syariah (Islamic) court. So far, no Syariah court has ever allowed a living person to convert out of Islam. Individuals are denied the right to appeal in the civil courts against any decision made by an Islamic court. In practice, anyone who wishes to officially leave Islam is denied that right.

The most famous Malaysian apostate from Islam is a woman called Lina Joy, who became a Christian in 1981. In 1998, she was allowed by the NRD to have her birth name – Azlina Jailani – changed to her current "Christian" name. All attempts to have herself declared a Christian on her MyKad have failed. She has taken her case to numerous courts, but the civil courts refused to hear her case, referring her back to the Islamic courts. In August 2006 she took her case to the Federal Court, the highest court in the nation. A judicial decision on her case was repeatedly delayed until May 30, 2007.

By a decision of two against one, a panel of judges ruled that Lina Joy could not officially change her faith without approval from the Islamic courts. Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, one of the two judges who ruled against her, said: ""Civil courts cannot interfere. In short, she cannot, at her own whim, simply enter or leave her religion... She must follow rules. The appeal has been rejected with cause."

The judge who supported her appeal, Richard Malanjum, said the demands of the NRD for her to apply to an Islamic court to declare her apostasy were "discriminatory and unconstitutional." Islamic courts can jail apostates. Malanjum said that the NRD's decision for her to return to an Islamic court would cause Lina Joy to "self-incriminate" herself. Outside the court, a crowd of at least 200 Muslim fanatics welcomed the decision, shouting out "Allahu Ackbar" (God is Great).

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Pertinent Links:

1) Malaysia's 'Moderate' Islam Means Racism and Oppression