A precedent for converts
Malay Mail (9/5/08): Only last week both BN and Pas members of Parliament had argued that once you enter Islam there is no turning back, not just for born Muslims, but also for converts.
But a landmark decision in Penang yesterday by the Syariah High Court put paid to the once-in-no exit argument by allowing a Muslim convert, Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah, to return to Buddhism and be her former self, Tan Ean Hung.
Tan, 39, had filed an application to renounce Islam at the court in May 2006, saying she converted to Islam in July 1998 to marry Iranian Ferdoun Ashanian in 1999.
Unfortunately, the marriage did not work out and Ferdoun left her a few months later.
“I stopped practising Islam thereafter,” she said in her affidavit.
She also had no knowledge of Ferdoun’s whereabouts.
The court accepted her argument that she had reverted to being Tan Ean Hung and practised Buddhism and prayed to deities like Tua Pek Kong, Kuan Yin and Thi Kong soon after Ferdoun left her.
While many converts in a similar predicament see the decision as one solution to their “neither here nor there” plight, others are cautious saying the remedy for them is not through the Syariah court but with the civil courts upholding the constitutional right to freedom of religion.
Generally, however, the decision sets a precedent that could ease the fears of non-Muslims that Islam erodes their secular rights.
“This a landmark decision and gives relief to Tan,” said lawyer A. Sivanesan, who is handling the case of S.
Kaliammah, the wife who fought the Federal Territory Islamic Department for custody of the body of her husband, Everest climber M.
Moorthy, and lost.
“However, non-Muslims should not be complacent with this decision.
“The real remedy for them is for the civil court to bravely uphold constitutional guarantees,” said Sivanesan, who is now a Perak State Exco member.
“If the Syariah High Court can make a decision based on facts, why is the civil court just washing their hands off the issue?” Human rights lawyer Haris Ibrahim, who has handled many cases involving religious conversions and battles for custody of children and properties, is also cautious, saying the decision is not a guarantee in law.
“The guarantee is Article 11 (1) of the Constitution,” Harris said, citing the article that says every citizen has a right to profess and practise his religion.
“Non-Muslims should not rejoice because it is legally untenable for them to seek redress through the Syariah courts which is specific for Muslims only,” he said.
The Federal Court, called upon to defend Article 11 (1) in the Lina Joy case last year where a Muslim woman had converted to Christianity and wanted the conversion recognised, had rejected her appeal, ruling a Muslim cannot leave the faith.
A rising number of disputes about religious conversions have sparked anxiety among non-Muslims and it was one issue that persuaded many non-Malays to vote opposition in the March 8 general election.
Ironically the election also saw non-Malays for the first time backing Pas, an avowedly Muslim party, ensuring the party won handsomely.
Currently non-Muslims, especially Indians, are joining en masse the party’s Indian clubs that are sprouting up across the country.
The non-Muslims’ close proximity with Islam through Pas, a party they had once feared, is expected to influence their view of Islam and help inter-ethnic rapprochement and even problem-free conversions, over time. (Baradan Kuppusamy)
But a landmark decision in Penang yesterday by the Syariah High Court put paid to the once-in-no exit argument by allowing a Muslim convert, Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah, to return to Buddhism and be her former self, Tan Ean Hung.
Tan, 39, had filed an application to renounce Islam at the court in May 2006, saying she converted to Islam in July 1998 to marry Iranian Ferdoun Ashanian in 1999.
Unfortunately, the marriage did not work out and Ferdoun left her a few months later.
“I stopped practising Islam thereafter,” she said in her affidavit.
She also had no knowledge of Ferdoun’s whereabouts.
The court accepted her argument that she had reverted to being Tan Ean Hung and practised Buddhism and prayed to deities like Tua Pek Kong, Kuan Yin and Thi Kong soon after Ferdoun left her.
While many converts in a similar predicament see the decision as one solution to their “neither here nor there” plight, others are cautious saying the remedy for them is not through the Syariah court but with the civil courts upholding the constitutional right to freedom of religion.
Generally, however, the decision sets a precedent that could ease the fears of non-Muslims that Islam erodes their secular rights.
“This a landmark decision and gives relief to Tan,” said lawyer A. Sivanesan, who is handling the case of S.
Kaliammah, the wife who fought the Federal Territory Islamic Department for custody of the body of her husband, Everest climber M.
Moorthy, and lost.
“However, non-Muslims should not be complacent with this decision.
“The real remedy for them is for the civil court to bravely uphold constitutional guarantees,” said Sivanesan, who is now a Perak State Exco member.
“If the Syariah High Court can make a decision based on facts, why is the civil court just washing their hands off the issue?” Human rights lawyer Haris Ibrahim, who has handled many cases involving religious conversions and battles for custody of children and properties, is also cautious, saying the decision is not a guarantee in law.
“The guarantee is Article 11 (1) of the Constitution,” Harris said, citing the article that says every citizen has a right to profess and practise his religion.
“Non-Muslims should not rejoice because it is legally untenable for them to seek redress through the Syariah courts which is specific for Muslims only,” he said.
The Federal Court, called upon to defend Article 11 (1) in the Lina Joy case last year where a Muslim woman had converted to Christianity and wanted the conversion recognised, had rejected her appeal, ruling a Muslim cannot leave the faith.
A rising number of disputes about religious conversions have sparked anxiety among non-Muslims and it was one issue that persuaded many non-Malays to vote opposition in the March 8 general election.
Ironically the election also saw non-Malays for the first time backing Pas, an avowedly Muslim party, ensuring the party won handsomely.
Currently non-Muslims, especially Indians, are joining en masse the party’s Indian clubs that are sprouting up across the country.
The non-Muslims’ close proximity with Islam through Pas, a party they had once feared, is expected to influence their view of Islam and help inter-ethnic rapprochement and even problem-free conversions, over time. (Baradan Kuppusamy)
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