Far from being a pandora's box of amendments to the Federal Constitution, recognising the conversion of Muslims to other religions involve only minor accommodations that can, and should, be dealt with by the legislative branch of government to address the issue of Malays' special position, say academicians.

Although disagreeing with court intervention in cases of Muslims seeking to convert to another religion, International Movement for a Just World president Dr Chandra Muzaffar said he believes the phenomenon should be recognised and addressed by Parliament.

"We should be dealing with the issue, not through the courts because it is too heavy a burden to be placed on the judges, but through Parliament and the state legislatures," he said when contacted.

Chandra said despite the incidence of Malay apostates being very few and isolated cases, there will have to be constitutional amendments to address the existence of Malays "in limbo" by virtue of their religious conversion.

"The definition of who is a Malay would have to be worked out, because (by recognising Malay conversions out of Islam) you create a group of people who are in limbo," said Chandra, who was formerly the director of the Center for Civilisational Dialogue in Universiti Malaya.

As the constitution defines a Malay as one who professes the religion of Islam, speaks the Malay language, and practices Malay customs, it would have to be modified to address the question of the Malay convert's rights as far as his 'special position' is concerned, he added.

"You can ask them to make a statutory declaration that they are non-Malay because they have left Islam. Or you can create a legal niche for the people of this group as non-Malays as opposed to Malays. For (either of) these, you may have to change the constitution."

Article 153 of the Federal Constitution provides for the reservation of certain proportions to Malays in the public services, educational opportunities and business permits and licenses.

'Accrued versus future rights'

Echoing Chandra's sentiments on the matter was constitutional expert Dr Shad Faruqi who added that among the first questions to be asked was with regards to the 'initiator' of such a move to declare a person a 'non-Malay'.

"Someone has to go to the courts. Do the courts act on their own? Does someone complain? Certainly in the civil courts, someone has to move the courts. Maybe the Shariah courts could issue a declaration."

"As things stand, judicial power is not exercised at its own initiative," said the Universiti Institut Teknologi Mara (UiTM) professor when interviewed recently.

The other question deals with the issue of accrued versus future rights pertaining to educational scholarship, study loans and ownership of Malay reserve land, said Shad.

"It would definitely cause problems. She (the converted person) has shares. Are you going to withdraw them? She may have bought a reservation land. Are you going to take that back from her? Maybe you could say rights already accrued remain, but new rights cannot be obtained."

Shad dismissed claims, however, that such the few apostasy cases that have been brought to the courts signal the beginning of larger concerns with the integrity of the Malay community.

"I think it would in individual cases, there may be 'irritations' where, for example, an individual goes to the registration department and says he wants his IC not to show the word 'Islam' and the case going up to the court of Appeal asking the registration department to explain."

"That problem is there, but I don't think it would lead to massive dislocation," he added.

'Serious crime'

Last week, a seminar on apostasy held in the International Islamic University (IIU) heard academics urging the government to stem the tide of apostasy before it grew to larger proportions.

IIU law professor Abdul Aziz Bari in his paper said failure to restrict the number of Malay Muslims leaving their religion would open up a pandora's box of the constitution's established provisions.

"Legal interpretations by those seeking to defend the problem of apostates will clearly disturb the structure and framework of the constitution, including the definition of Malay," he said in his paper.

Agreeing with him on the matter was Prof Shamrahayu Abdul Aziz who said there were sufficient enactments in the civil and Shariah courts for the authorities to act in order to stem the tide of apostasy among Muslims.

"This phenomenon is a big challenge that must be confronted with the Muslim community in Malaysia. This serious crime must be contained before it reaches critical proportions in our society," she said.