Allowing Conversion or Giving Recognition to Religious Status?

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism,Sikhism and Taoism (MBCCHST) has urged the authorities to allow S.Banggarma, an ethnic Indian girl from Penang to convert out of Islam (see http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/118324).

It seems that Banggarma is a Hindu girl who was raised in an orphanage in Kedah. During her stay at the orphanage, she was converted to Islam. At the age of 15, she ran away from the centre and reverted to her faith of Hinduism. Later she married a Hindu man according to Hindu rites and bore two children. However her marriage is not legally recognized by the Malaysian government as according to her national registration records, she is officially a Muslim.

And according to Malaysian law, a Muslim cannot enter into a marriage according to non-Islamic religious rites. This has resulted in both her children having birth certificates without their father's name. This is awkward however as there are no provisions in the Birth and Registration Act saying a marriage must be legal for a birth certificate to have the child's father's name on it.

However, going back to what the MCCBCHST had said, we can conclude thet the MCCBCHST's demand for Banggarma to be allowed to convert out of Islam is not appropriate. This is because Banggarma is NOT A MUSLIM. She is a Hindu. All she wants is for the National Registration Department to recognize her as a Hindu. There is no reason for her to convert out of Islam, as she is a non-Muslim.

As for certain Muslim leaders urging Banggarma to seek redress in the Sharia court, this is also not appropriate. The Sharia court only has jurisdiction over those professing the religion of Islam, as the MCCBCHST rightly pointed out.

Since she is a Hindu, why should she go to the Sharia court? This is the same with the case of Fatimah Tan* in Penang, where she had to go to the Sharia court to supposedly convert out of Islam. The fact is that Fatimah Tan was never a Muslim in the first place. Her supposed conversion was only to enable her to marry an Iranian Muslim man. This is also confusing as the Iranian is a Shi'ite, and the Shi'a sect is not recognized as Islam in Malaysia!

So far, only the Sharia court in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah has rightly ruled in such a case involving one Roslinda from Kuala Penyu in 2007**. In the case, Sharia High Court judge Jasri Najip Majakir ruled that the Sharia court has no jurisdiction to allow apostasy (conversion out of Islam) and that it had no jurisdiction in matters involving Article 11(1)(freedom of religion) of the Federal Constitution. This means Roslinda can take her case to the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak.

However the North Borneo Herald has not received any reports about Roslinda seeking a solution in the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak. She could use the Malaysia Agreement to her advantage. No one has ever used the Malaysia Agreement in cases involving religion in the courts. However a Federal Court decision had ruled in favour of the Malaysia Agreement***. In that case, the Federal Court ruled that it is against the Malaysia Agreement 1963 for lawyers from out of Sabah and Sarawak making representations in the appeals court for cases originating from these two states.

Banggarma can try her case at the High Court of Malaya, however she would not be as lucky as Roslinda if the latter had filed her case in the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak, as Roslinda has the Malaysia Agreement to fall back on. However the point here is not about converting out of Islam. It is about the right to be recognized as being a follower of one's own religion.

* The Star, March 16 2009
**Daily Express March 29, 2007
***Daily Express, April 22, 2009