Lawyers speak up on drafting of law over Islam conversion

(Rakyat Post) – “Unfortunately, there is so much disproportionate right wing rhetoric on talk of Islam and the Malay rights being under threat. All rational thinking goes out the window.”

Lawyer Syahredzan Johan said today the freedom for a person to practise any religion was enshrined in the Federal Constitution and there were already laws in place for people to leave Islam in Malaysia.

This was his response to the recent revelation by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Joseph Kurup on the government mulling a new law to allow those who were forcefully and wrongfully converted to Islam to leave the religion.

This came on the back of recent religious tussles, namely the Selangor Islamic Department (Jais) gatecrashing a Hindu wedding on suspicion the bride was a Muslim and two defiant Muslim fathers who refused to hand over their Muslim-converted children to their Hindu ex-spouses.

Firstly, Syahredzan said the Federal Constitution did not bar people professing and practising the religion they want to.

“Secondly, it is actually not true to say there isn’t a law or no way for people to leave Islam in Malaysia. An application has been made and has been successful. It is possible.

“Under current state legislation, a lot of states have laws to allow the syariah court to determine whether a person is still a Muslim or not. It’s been used by some applicants to leave the religion.”

According to the lawyer, this usually involved a case of conversion by marriage, whereby once the marriage didn’t work out, the spouse who converted made the appeal because they weren’t Muslim in the first place and did not practise Islam.

“I’m quite curious into what the federal government wants to do. If you’re talking about leaving Islam, it falls under the jurisdiction of the state. There’s an overlap in the jurisdiction then,” said Syahredzan.

At the end of the day, he added, the supreme law of the federation allowed for freedom of religion and that should be the guiding principle in the law being mulled.

To Eric Paulsen, executive director of Lawyers for Liberty, it was unlikely that a new law would come into play, “because of no political will on the part of the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Najib Razak)”.

“These are hard decisions that he (Najib) is not fond of. We have seen in the last seven years, the Islamic authorities seem to have their way when something outrageous happens, from body snatching, to raiding of churches and seizing Bibles to the latest issue with Zarena.

“There don’t seem to be repercussions,” he said, in referring to the bride Zarena Abdul Majid, who alleged that she never practised Islam and was a Hindu.

On there being state laws to tackle such religious issues, Paulsen said: “Unfortunately, the procedures are quite vague. Even if there are ways, they will delay or prolong the procedure.

“All kinds of roadblocks are in place to discourage them from applying and they fall into a black hole where they are constantly in counselling and requirements are impossible to fulfil.

“In the case of Zarena, they have asked for consent from the father, which is absurd. It makes it quite impossible to declare her being a non-Muslim.”

Paulsen said the last time Malaysia came close to being able to tackle the issue of forced conversions was when then de facto Law Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz took a stand back in 2009 that unilateral conversion of minors to Islam should not be allowed.

Mohamed Nazri, at that time, had said that the Cabinet had decided that a child must be raised in the faith professed by both parents at the time of marriage should a dispute arise between the couple later.

Last year, however, Mohamed Nazri said the Conference of Rulers had objected to the implementation of that decision.

“But then it didn’t go through. Putrajaya knows the issue; it’s not something new. It’s whether they have the political will,” Paulsen added.

Looking ahead

When asked what the positive impacts would be should a new law be passed, Paulsen said, hopefully, cases like Zarena’s and Deepa Subramaniam’s would become be a thing of the past.

“The other positive impact is there will be more inter-religious understanding.

“Unfortunately, there is so much disproportionate right wing rhetoric on talk of Islam and the Malay rights being under threat. All rational thinking goes out the window.”

On the downside, Paulsen said some irresponsible religious leaders tend to exaggerate the threat against Islam by claiming apostasy.

“The tendency to exaggerate is there, but there’s hope more middle ground will drown the exaggeration.”

Syahredzan’s reservation was how authorities will solve jurisdiction issues.

“Some will argue it falls under state jurisdiction. How are they going to solve that? I don’t think the federal government on its own can solve this. It has to consult with the states.”

On whether any new laws would lessen the probes and actions taken by religious authorities, both opined that they would still operate in the current way.

“When it comes to religious authorities, it relies on the state. But they seem to be acting on their own.

“The state needs to put out some laws to have standard operating procedures (SOP) on having raids and such. It’s a different issue, which is handled in different ways,” said Syahredzan.

Paulsen said they needed to be instructed to conform to whatever policies are decided.

“For example, there’s no point having the 10-point agreement in government in terms of the usage of the Bible. No point having good policies when policies don’t translate into actions.”

Paulsen was referring to the 10-point solution issued by Najib’s administration before the Sarawak state elections in 2011.

It allowed for Bibles in Malay and indigenous languages to be printed, imported and distributed nationwide, with certain conditions imposed for Peninsula Malaysia.

“In future, let’s say one parent tries to register a declaration to be Muslim. The first thing officers must do is ask where the wife is.

“Immediately, there must be alarm bells ringing. The new law must ask for the wife to be there. But if officers don’t follow (this procedure), there’s the problem.”