These are again from my Google Alert's work on the issues of Christian identity in Malaysia. The information contained here may not be academic, but it truly reflects a part of significant problems occurring in Malaysia. (Lily)
‘Malaysia rejects call to remove crosses from schools’ 5 December 2007
KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia will continue to allow Christian missionary schools to display crosses, a minister said according to a report Tuesday, after calls to have them removed triggered a furor.
Deputy Education Minister Noh Omar told parliament that there was no reason to take down the religious symbols in Muslim-majority Malaysia -- where ethnic Indian and Chinese communities practice Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism. "We will continue with the current practice, which is a tradition started a long time ago," he said according to The Star newspaper.
Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang had demanded an answer from Noh, saying that two lawmakers from the ruling National Front coalition had called for church influence at the schools to be curbed. "There is growing intolerance and increasing extremism in Malaysia which are inimical to successful nation building," Lim said in a statement. "The latest instance is the demand for the removal of the Christian cross and the demolition of Christian statues in mission schools," he added. Lim said the comments -- including suggestions that Muslim children at the schools were being made apostates, or abandoning the faith -- had been widely circulated on the Internet. "I asked Noh Omar... why the education ministry was condoning such extremism by its silence when such statements should be denounced without equivocation," he said. Lim noted that many great Muslim Malay leaders had studied at mission schools, including influential deputy premier Najib Razak and the Sultan of Selangor state. Issues of religion and race have become increasingly touchy in Malaysia, stirred by what critics say is the rising "Islamisation" of the multicultural country.
Ethnic Indians have been outraged by the destruction of hundreds of Hindu temples in recent years, one factor behind last month's unprecedented street rally of some 8,000 people complaining of discrimination against the minority community.
Copyright © 2007 The China Post.
‘How to amend your religion in MyKad’ 4 DECEMBER 2007
(http://spectrumblas.blogspot.com80)(http://blawg.joshua3.com80)
I wrote about this sometime ago in 2005 in my previous blog but apparently a lot has changed since then.
In a Star report in 23 Dec 2005, NRD DG Datuk Mohd Abdul Halim Muhammad said that it is now easier for a person to change a sensitive information in the MyKad. He said “Those faced with the predicament need only fill up one form (Form A) to rectify the mistake. There is no need for a statutory declaration before the Commissioner of Oaths or a baptism certificate from a church or a letter from a temple priest, or any other documents,” he said about the hassle-free step by the NRD for those wanting to rectify the mistake, and have the correct religion stated on their MyKad.
The same report also stated that the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili (at that time) and Deputy Home Affairs Minister Datuk Tan Chai Ho together with Home Affairs secretary-general Tan Sri Aseh Che Mat will worked to solve the problem. NRD public relations officer Jainisah Mohd Noor apologised on behalf of the department for any inconvenience caused to the public. “The NRD apologises for the problems encountered by all those affected,” she said.
This remains to be be proven. It wasn’t this straight forward prior to that statement and until now.
Because my latest check on the website of the National Registration Department reveals that Baptism certificate is still required. Link here.
I recall in 2004, when i wanted to find out the procedures to change religion, I checked the NRD website and I found no information there about the procedures. Then I wrote emails after emails to ask about what i need to do - writing to the names listed on the website but after more than a year - no one answered! Thereafter, I decided I had to take a day off and visit the NRD office in PJ in November 2004. I brought my baptism certificate and a statutory declaration just in case.
Imagine my shock when I was told I need more than baptism to prove I am a Christian. Strangely, the NRD officer is probably right or biblical since you can claim to be a Christian but are not in the sight of God and having been Baptized or a member of a church is definitely not sufficient proof that one is a true Christian. But this is not Judgement Day and I was only applying to change an official detail!
I was informed that there’s a form to fill, complete a statutory declaration in the form prescribed by NRD, a Baptism certificate from a church in Malaysia, and a letter from the church in Malaysia where one is a member of just to prove one is a Christian.
I cannot believe what i heard! I told the officer that - a Baptism certificate which is from an Australian church is sufficient and no one will give you another Baptism certificate from Malaysia! And furthermore, if the Bar Council accepted my statutory declaration of the change of name I dont(sic) see why the NRD would not accept it.
Subsequently, the NRD officer relented and said that all I needed was a letter from my church pastor to affirm my baptism certificate and get the forms and Statutory Declaration done as well.
What i discovered later was that lot of people do not want to amend their religion in the NRIC or MyKad because they there is too much of a hassle to obtain the letters. If you are not baptized or are not a member of a local church - there is no way you can change that detail - even if you are converted. So there are lots of people who applied for MyKad and found themselves to be Buddhist again or with the hassle - they chose to “no-religion” instead.
The NECF chief has this to say about the many errors in the MyKad. Rev Wong Kim Kong had said the situation was serious, as he had recorded a 25% error rate in the samplings he had carried out on church members around the country.
So whats the procedure today?
1. Go to the NRD office in Putrajaya and get the Form JPN.KP16 and the template for the Statutory Declaration
2. Complete the forms and Statutory Declaration
(i don’t think there is a Commissioner for Oath in the NRD office, so you have to return again to Putrajaya)
3. Prepare the following
- the original & copy of your Statutory Declaration for the change of religion
- the original & certified copy of your birth certificate
- the original MyKad or NRIC
- the Baptism certificate (hopefully this is from a church in Malaysia, otherwise - I think you will need a letter from the local church pastor in which you are a member of to confirm you are a Christian)
4. Go to NRD in Putrajaya (only for Selangor state), and ask the information counter which counter to go.
Apparently if I am not mistaken it is Level 2 Counter 17 (there is different queue number to obtain).
For other states - please call the offices of the state to confirm if the application be made in those offices.
(End)
