Yesterday’s failed attempt by Lina Joy to remove the label “Muslim” from her national identity card mocks the Federal Constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion and belief in Malaysia.
“Justice eluded Lina in the ‘Palace of Justice’” said Yap Swee Seng, executive director of Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram).
The human rights group is of the opinion that the majority judgments of Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim and Justice Alauddin Mohd Sheriff are unjust and denies Lina Joy’s basic Constitutional right to freedom of religion. It said the dissenting judgment of Justice Richard Malanjum has rightly pointed out that Lina Joy will be incriminating herself to an criminal offence of apostacy if she goes to the Syariah court.
“By directing Lina to return to the Syariah Court to leave Islam, the Federal Court is turning a blind eye to the fact that Lina Joy will most likely be convicted in the Syariah court since apostasy is a criminal offence in the majority of the states’ Syariah law,” said Yap .
In Malaysia , Negeri Sembilan is the only state that allows the conversion of Muslims from Islam.
“The ruling by the majority judgments of the Federal Court misses the point that there is no remedy present in the Syariah court,” he added.
In 1992, Kamariah Ali, Daud Mamat, Mad Yacob Ismail and Mohamad Ya were convicted in the Syariah court and jailed between two and five years for deviant religious practices. They renounced Islam in 1998 and were charged in 2000 in the Kelantan Syariah Court for this and for failing to comply with the court order to repent, and sentenced to three years in prison for contempt of court.
In a recent case of Revathi who is an ethnic Indian and was separated by the religious authorities from her Hindu husband and their baby because she was born into a Muslim family. Revathi was sentenced to 100 days of detention at a religious rehabilitation center.
Suaram said the judiciary has once again failed in its duty in defending a citizen from unjust punishment for merely exercising her rights as enshrined in the Federal Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“Faith must be practiced through conviction and compulsion only renders faith meaningless,” said Yap.
For further inquiry, please contact Yap Swee Seng, executive director of Suaram, tel: 03-77843525 or email: suaram@suaram.net.
The question is: What else can we do to help Lina Joy in the light of the Federal Court decision? She got sacked by her company because people were complaining about it. No means of living. She got death threats.
Who can help our fellow citizen, and those like her, whose basic rights are denied?
It is somewhat easy to argue about this case decision while forgetting about the person affected by it the most, Lina Joy herself.
That is the question now.