Malaysia Shari`ah Court Allows Apostasy

The court allowed an ethnic Chinese woman to leave Islam and return to Buddhism

"Although this court views seriously such matters, this court has no choice but to give her the right to return to her original faith," ruled Penang Shari`ah Court judge Othman Ibrahim.

Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah, formerly known as Tan Ean Huang, embraced Islam in 1998 to marry her Muslim husband. 

But in 2006, she filed to have her conversion annulled after breaking up with her husband.

"It is clear that the plaintiff does not practice Islamic teachings since the beginning," said judge Othman.

"I order the conversion certificate to be nullified."

MP Mohd Paud Zarkashi from the ruling Barisan National has urged the government to enact a law to allow non-Muslims who embraced Islam to leave the faith if their marriage ended in divorce.

Non-Muslims must revert to Islam before they can legally marry a Muslim in multiethnic Malaysia, where Muslim Malays form about 60 percent of the 26-million population.

Christians make up around 9.1 percent of the population, including a Catholic population of nearly 800,000.

Buddhists and Hindus constitute 19.2 and 6.3 percent of the population respectively.

Usually dubbed the "melting pot" of Asia for its potpourri of cultures, Malaysia has long been held up as a model of peaceful co-existence among its races and religions.

Failure

Judge Othman rebuked the state Islamic religious council for not counseling and looking after the welfare of new reverts.

"In this case, it is clear that the council has failed to live up to its responsibilities and the outcome is clear for all to see," he said.

"It is the council's obligation to encourage, support and help new converts and ensure they follow the teachings of Islam," asserted the judge.

"If this is not done, it is possible that in future there may be further cases of people coming to court to renounce Islam."

The verdict, nonetheless, sparked calls for deciding the issue of apostasy through civil not Shari`ah courts.

"It should be the high court which decides on this issue as some states in Malaysia do not provide for converting out," said Bar Council Vice President Ragunath Kesavan.

"So the high court remains the best place to sort this out."

Malaysia follows a dual justice system where Shari`ah courts administer the personal affairs of Muslims and civil courts serve Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and other religious minorities.

Recent rulings by Shari`ah courts in cases of conversion, marriage, divorce and child custody involving non-Muslims have drawn criticism from non-Muslims.

"There is now much confusion surrounding it," said Nasharuddin Mat Isa, vice-president of the opposition Islamic party (PAS) which made major gains in the recent general elections.

"We are still not clear as there are insufficient procedural laws when it comes to Shari`ah. This must also be looked into."