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| Southeast Asia |
| Malaysian apostate allowed to appeal against dismissal |
| 2006-04-13 |
| PUTRAJAYA, April 13 (Bernama) -- A woman who renounced Islam was Thursday allowed to appeal to the Federal Court against a court's dismissal of her application to drop the word "Islam" from her identity card. The Federal Court, led by Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, unanimously granted leave to Lina Joy, whose birth name is Azlina Jailani, to appeal after ruling that the principle issue in the case was a matter of public importance and the court's decision on it would be to the public advantage. "We are of the unanimous view that the principle issue involved in this case is a matter of general principle on which there has been no decision by this court," said Ahmad Fairuz who sat with justices Datuk Richard Malanjum and Datuk S.Augustine Paul. The court will determine three legal questions to be argued in the appeal proceedings to be heard at another date. One of the questions is whether the National Registration Department (NRD) is entitled in law to require Lina to produce a certificate or an order from the Syariah Court declaring her an apostate in her application to delete the word Islam from her identity card. The other two questions are whether the NRD correctly construed its powers under Regulations 4 and 14 of the National Regulations 1990 to impose the requirement when it was not expressly provided for in the regulations and whether the Syariah Court has authority to decide on matters of conversion out of Islam. On Sept 19 last year, the Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 majority decision, rejected Lina's appeal to reverse the High Court's decision disallowing her application to delete the word 'Islam" from her identity card on the grounds that her renunciation of Islam was not confirmed by the Syariah Court or any other Islamic religious authority. High Court judge Datuk Faiza Thambi Chik, had ruled on April 23 2001 that being a Muslim, Lina could not renounce Islam and that the issue should be decided by the Syariah Court. The Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Council, the Malaysian government and the NRD Director-General Datuk Wan Ibrahim Wan Ahmad are respondents in the suit. Earlier, the court heard arguments from Lina's counsel, Datuk Dr Cyrus Das, senior federal counsel Datuk Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid representing the Malaysian government and the NRD DG and Sulaiman Abdullah, counsel for the Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Council. Dr Das said the questions to be determined were issues of public importance involving the citizens' rights, which would be decided by the Federal Court for the first time. "There is a dissenting judgment that could well be a decisive factor for the apex court to grant the leave to clear the difference of opinions at the lower court," he said. He said the Federal Court was the ultimate constitutional court to decide on constitutional issues and not the Syariah Court, which only dealt with religious matters. "Lina is left high and dry. She is asked to do something that cannot be done," he said. Umi Kalthum objected to the leave application contending that apostasy is under Islamic law and should be dealt with by the Syariah Court. She said the issues on general principle of administrative law which Lina was relying on had repeatedly been decided by the Federal Court. Sulaiman submitted that Muslims could not use the "backdoor method" to avoid going to Syariah Court to renounce Islam. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 The secular court is kowtowing to the syariah court nothwithstanding that M'sia isn't an islamic state. |
| Posted by: Duh! 2006-04-13 13:14 |