I would like to refer to the report Burial dispute: Family regrets not being told which appeared in the Daily Express on May 27. In the report it was stated that the family of a deceased man was unhappy that the Sabah Islamic Religious Affairs Department (Jheains) had exhumed his body from a Christian cemetery after being buried there for 45 days.

The deceased, it seemed, had secretly converted to Islam. However when he was alive he had told none of his family members about his conversion. He even ate non-halal food at his family's house. Even the deceased's Muslim fiance who was present during his Christian funeral did not say anything about the deceased being a Muslim.

What is clear here is that everyone concerned in this dispute was ignorant of the law and jurisdiction of the Syariah Court. The body was exhumed by an order fromk the Syariah Court. What is puzzling is how the Syariah Court could give an order to exhume a body buried at a Christian cemetery.

The deceased was rightly buried at a Christian cemetery because he was officially baptised as a Christian. He also did not make any statutory declaration stating his relinquishment of the Christian religion.

If the Syariah Court wanted to exhume his body, the right avenue would be for the civil High Court to issue an order first. This is because the Syariah Court's jurisdiction is clearly stated in the Federal Constitution and it does not include encroaching into non-Muslim burial grounds.

And before any order for exhumation is given out, both the deceased's family and the Syariah authorities should appear in court.

The worst comment on this dispute however came from a Suhakam representative who witnessed the exhumation. He said that everything was according to the law. But what he should have taken note of is whether the law violated human rights or not.