PAS Johor has accused the state Islamic religious department (JAIJ) of being 'slow and negligent' to the point of seeing the remains of a Muslim lawyer being cremated according to Hindu rites.

The remains of RR Mahendran @ Rafie Syzwan Abdullah, who died of a heart attack on Sept 5, was claimed by his family and cremated the next day.

The 40-year-old is said to have embraced Islam some five years ago after marrying his second wife, who is a Muslim.

Contacted today, PAS Johor Youth chief Mazlan Aliman pinned the blame on the JAIJ.

The department was slow in acting to claim the body when informed of Mahendran's death, he added.

He said while the department secured the ashes and gave it an Islamic burial following a court order, PAS did not consider the issue closed.

"An investigation must be carried out as there are many questions which must be answered. JAIJ acted inefficiently in this case," he added.

Mazlan said JAIJ officers should have claimed the body the moment it was brought to the house.

"Maybe due to red tapes, JAIJ officers were late to act. A friend of the deceased informed the department that the deceased was a Muslim and that his family had taken back his remains to their house.

"JAIJ officials should have acted immediately upon receiving this information. If they had done so, the incident could have been averted," he added.

Religious conflicts

Mazlan said such incidents should not happen as this was a sensitive matter. "If allowed to recur, it can lead to religious conflicts in this country," he warned.

According to him, PAS was not deliberately blowing up the issue. He said the party only wanted to ensure that those responsible be more careful in order to avoid any untoward incidents.

"This is why we sent a memorandum to JAIJ to demand an explanation and assurance that this will not happen again," he said.

As for lodging a police report, he said PAS wanted to know if the family's action in cremating the deceased went against the Federal Constitution or were they unaware of his conversion.

"The deceased never concealed his Islamic identity because he was married to a Muslim. Every Hari Raya, he held an open house and invited his Hindu family members over," he added.

In view of this, Mazlan said he wanted to determine what had actually happened. Apart from this, PAS had also instructed its lawyers to study the matter from the legal aspect.

Meanwhile, a JAIJ officer, who declined to be named, said the "mistake" had been resolved.

"We got a court order and we buried the ashes according to Islamic rites. There is nothing more to say," he added when contacted.

JAIJ director Mohd Zaini Osman could not be reached for comment.