Court dismisses bid to drop Islam from woman's IC
An insurance agent failed in her legal bid to quash her unilateral conversion to Islam during childhood.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court this afternoon dismissed the female applicant’s judicial review over the conversion carried out by her Muslim convert father when she was 10 in 1990.
An insurance agent failed in her legal bid to quash her alleged unilateral conversion to Islam during childhood.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court this afternoon dismissed the female applicant’s judicial review over the conversion carried out by her Muslim convert father when she was 10 in 1990.
Judge Noorin Badaruddin’s ruling was in relation to the 42-year-old woman’s legal action, which named the National Registration Department (NRD) director-general, the government, and the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais), as the three respondents.
Noorin also made no order to costs.
Today’s online proceedings conducted via Zoom was set for a decision on the judicial review. The insurance agent was seen observing the matter.
On March 17 last year, Malaysiakini reported that she filed the judicial review application, following the NRD’s alleged refusal to allow her to drop the term Islam from her MyKad.
During the online proceedings, Noorin ruled that the NRD acted correctly under the law to require the woman to get a certification from the Syariah Court to support her application to drop the Islam status from her MyKad.
First approached NRD
The judge said that when the NRD was first approached by the applicant to remove her Islam status in August 2019, the documents available before the department indicated that she was a Muslim.
Noorin noted that the allegation that the woman was unilaterally converted to Islam only arose when the latter filed the judicial review application in November 2019.
The judge noted that the documents available to the NRD then indicated that even when the woman made a much earlier successful application for a MyKad when she was 21, the identification document stated her religion as Islam.
Noorin observed that the woman only approached the NRD to drop Islam from her Mykad when the latter was already 39 years old (August 2019).
“This court finds from the affidavit and statutory declaration (filed to support the judicial review) that stated (claimed) and affirmed she is no longer a Muslim, which contradicted the documentary evidence available before the first respondent (NRD).
“There is nothing illegal, irrational or procedurally improper for the first respondent to seek to verify the fact that the applicant was no longer a Muslim and seek such confirmation from the Syariah Court,” said Noorin.
The judge said that the applicant essentially needs to give particulars to the NRD for any documentary evidence to support any particulars submitted (for application to drop Islam from the MyKad).
“This (High) court is bound by the majority (Federal Court) decision in the Lina Joy case, where the Federal Court held that the NRD has the right to impose the condition that the appellant there needed to produce a certificate to indicate she was no longer a Muslim.
“The certificate must come from the Syariah Court as the matter of leaving Islam falls under the jurisdiction of the Syariah Court. The Federal Court held that a statutory declaration is not sufficient for the applicant to state having left Islam is reasonable,” Noorin added.
She said that the NRD needs such determination from the religious authorities (Syariah Court) to state whether the applicant was either a Muslim or not before the NRD could erase Islam from the MyKad when (existing official) documents stated the woman was a Muslim.
The judge observed that the claim that the woman’s mother never consented to the Islamic conversion only arose during the present judicial review.
No proper legal recourse
Noorin pointed out that the insurance agent did not resort to a proper legal recourse to contend the conversion was illegal when she turned 18, but only mounted it when she was almost 40 years of age.
The judge said, as a result, the issue of whether the conversion was void ab initio is uncertain.
Noorin said that the woman’s mother never challenged the conversion at the material time.
“Whether she (insurance agent) was never a Muslim or not is for the Syariah Court (to determine) and not for this (civil) court (to determine),” the judge added.
No jurisdiction
Noorin said that the civil court cannot make inroads to encroach in matters regarding the religion of Islam.
“It is highly inappropriate for this (civil) court to determine the validity of any conversion of a person or whether Muslim or not, as that falls under the jurisdiction of the Syariah Court per the Federal Constitution.
“As much as the applicant has the right to practice the religion of her choice, she is not deprived of legal channels as the Syariah Court is there.
“The Syariah Court is accorded with jurisdiction to declare any person as being no longer a Muslim, and she can then proceed with her bid to remove her name from the (Selangor) Registrar of Muallafs (converts to Islam), and then apply (again) for the NRD to remove Islam (from her MyKad),” Noorin assured the insurance agent.
The woman was represented by lawyer Shamsher Singh Thind.
Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi acted for the NRD and the federal government. Counsel Kamaruzaman Arif represented Mais.
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
This action cannot be undone.