Malaysian court accepts woman's decision to convert from Islam
Updated
On the Malaysian island state of Penang, an Islamic court has upheld a controversial decision - allowing a woman to revert from Islam to Buddhism.
It's one of the rare ocassions a Syariah court has allowed someone to leave Islam - a practice usually viewed very seriously under Malaysian law. The court said the woman had a unique case because her conversion to Islam had not been valid, but the case has touched on a sensitive issue that has long divided the Malaysian public.
Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speaker: Professor Shamsul AB, director of the Institute of Ethnic Studies at the National University of Malaysia; Sophie Lemiere, PHD candidate studying apostacy and Islamic civil society in Malaysia
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COCHRANE: Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah converted from Buddhism to Islam a decade ago in order to marry an Iranian man. But when that marriage ended, she lodged an application to revert back to Buddhism, a move that is seen by many in Malaysia as a grave sin and a crime. Surprisingly, her request was approved last year in a local court and upheld this week, after a challenge by Penang's Islamic Religious Council. But - importantly - the Sharia Appeal Court ruled that, because Siti Fatimah had never actually practised Islam, her conversion wasn't valid in the first place. Outside the court, the 39-year old said she was pleased the case was finally over and said she her first action would be to offer prayers at a Buddhist temple. Siti Fatimah may have, in effect, been let off on a technicality, but Professor Shamsul AB, director of the Institute of Ethnic Studies at the National University of Malaysia, says her verdict may open the door for similar cases.
SHAMSUL: I suppose it would be not an easy way out or simple thing to do, but I'm sure there will be many more cases after this for those who feel they want to leave, or want to revert to their original belief.
COCHRANE: Most others who have tried to revert, have not been sucessful, and open themselves up to the charge of apostasy - which means renouncing one's faith. Sophie Lemiere, is a French PHD candidate living in Malaysia and writing a thesis about apostacy and Islamic civil society. She says the penalties for apostasy include fines, jail time and sometimes more.
LEMIERE: In certain states in Malaysian - I'm thinking of Pahang state - the person who commits the crime of apostasy can be sentenced to whipping. So it's quite a serious crime in Malaysia. Even if the freedom of religion is actually guaranteed by the Constitution Article 11, there are a lot of people who've been through legal problems because of the decision to revert from Islam to another religion.
COCHRANE: It's not clear whether the decision in favour of Siti Fatimah will set a precedent for other cases or states, but it's a landmark decision in what is a potent mix of religion, ethnicity and identity.
That's because ethnic Malays - who make up 60 percent of Malaysia - are legally defined by their belief in Islam, with the word 'Muslim' printed on their ID card. So, in practice, changing religions also means changing ethnicities.
Sophie Lemiere says this stokes the feeling amongst some Muslims, that their small majority is being threatened by other ethnicities.
LEMIERE: Any moral controversy actually, so freedom of religion or apostasy or homosexuality or even the practice of yoga raised some very emotional comments from a whole part of Malaysia, and brings up the fight between Muslims and non-Muslims and again this problem of numbers, majority and who will remain the king of the land or the son of the soil.
COCHRANE: Professor Shamsul says the issue challenges the rights of society versus the individual.
SHAMSUL: So I think this is a struggle between the individual decision and the collective consciousness... In Malaysia the collectiveness is enhanced by the fact that every Malay is a Muslim, so it become an ethnic issue, but then after a while people realise that perhaps the individual should be given a chance to decide, after all, he goes to his own hell or heaven.
COCHRANE: And because many apostasy cases stem from marriages and divorces, Professor Shamsul says the legal debate also blurs the line between the public and the personal sphere.
SHAMSUL: When they fall in love, nobody knows, it's a personal matter, but when they fall out of love, it's becomes a national issue.
