1.The Straits Times (http://www.straitstimes.com)
M'sian muslims protest ruling on renunciation of Islam , 16 May 2008
PENANG (Malaysia) - A GROUP of Muslims in Malaysia's northern Penang state staged a protest on Friday to denounce an Islamic sharia court's rare ruling allowing a Chinese convert to renounce her faith.
Last week the Penang Sharia Court allowed 38-year-old Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah, or Tan Ean Huang, to renounce Islam and return to Buddhism.
Siti, a cook, told the court she had never practised Islamic teachings since converting in 1998 to marry Iranian Ferdoun Ashanian.
The couple married in 1999 but her husband left her months later and she filed for renunciation two years ago.
Hizbut Tahrir Malaysia, an Islamic hardline group, gathered outside the court and submitted a memorandum urging a judicial review of the decision.
'We outrightly disagree with the court decision as it is against Islamic laws. In Islam, a person who insists on leaving the religion must be punished with death,' the group's president Abdul Hakim Othman told reporters.
Apostasy, or renouncing the faith, is one of the gravest sins in Islam and a very sensitive issue in Malaysia where Islamic sharia courts have rarely allowed such renunciations and have also jailed apostates.
Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, where more than 60 per cent of its 27 million people are Muslim Malays.
The Islamic sharia courts operate in parallel to civil courts but apply specifically to Muslims. -- AFP
2.Council of Churches of Malaysia (http://www.ccmalaysia.org)
Press Statement by members of Article 11 and Council of Churches, 13 May 2008
While we are relieved that the Penang Syariah Court has “permitted” Tan Ean Huang who formally converted to Islam in 1988 to “renounce” Islam and practice Buddhism, we have many concerns with this process.
For two years Tan Ean Huang faced many obstacles in asserting her inherent right to practice her own faith as guaranteed by Article 11 of the Federal Constitution. Article 11 grants every person the freedom to practice and profess the religion of his/her choice as does the Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
We agree with the call by civil society that any person wanting to profess and practice his or her religion should not have to face administrative hurdles, enforced counselling and the need to wait for years before his or her faith is officially recognized. Instead, people like Tan Ean Huang should be able to utilise a simple registration process administered by the National Registration Department to get official recognition of their professed religion.
It has been pointed out that not all Syariah State enactments allow a person to leave Islam. Some seem to permit it, some seem to criminalize it and some seem to be silent about it. As such, there are different consequences if a person wishes to convert out of Islam. There are also those who have never professed or practised Islam, but are officially considered as “Muslim”, usually because their parents may have converted in name but continued to raise them in their original non- Muslim faith.
Freedom of religion is a fundamental right. It is a private matter for an individual. The state should not interfere in this unless a religious practice infringes on the rights and liberties of others. We believe that once a person has professed that he/she is no longer a Muslim; the Government should respect that person’s wishes. Islamic laws should not thereafter be applied to that person, nor should the Syariah Court have any jurisdiction over that person. Adequate laws ought to be enacted to ensure that religious conversion does not permit a person to evade outstanding obligations to his or her family members, be they Muslim or people of other faiths.
Proposals for such laws have been submitted by JAG (Joint Action Group for Gender Equality), the Bar Council, the MCCBCHST and other members of civil society.
We therefore strongly urge the government and the judiciary to implement immediately the proposals by civil society to uphold freedom of religion for all Malaysians.
Endorsed by:
1. All Women’s Action Society (AWAM)
2. Bar Council Malaysia
3. Catholic Lawyers Society (CLS)
4. Council of Churches
5. Malaysian Civil Liberties Society, Protem Committeen (MCLS)
6. National Human Rights Society (HAKAM)
7. Sisters In Islam (SIS)
8. Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)
9. Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO)
Article 11 is a coalition of 10 Malaysian NGOs with its secretariat being Women’s Aid Organisation and Sisters in Islam. Members of Article 11 are All Women’s Action Society (AWAM); Bar Council Malaysia; Catholic Lawyers Society (CLS); Malaysian Civil Liberties Society, Protem Committeen (MCLS); Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST); National Human Rights Society (HAKAM), Sisters In Islam (SIS); Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM); Vivekananda Youth Movement, Seremban; Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO).
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