{UAH} Malaysia Rules Muslim Man Can Convert to Christianity

A liberal muslim country makes one step forward, but the muslim
community needs to make several giant steps forward in other to catch
up with modernity, civilisation and humane values. They can not
afford to wallow in the backwaters of barbarity and medieval savagery.
In almost all majority Muslim countries today, converting away from
Islam or even just abandoning it is considered APOSTASY and is
punishable by Death by Beheading. Islam seems to ban and to punish
inner peace and happiness, which can only be achieved by having full
control of one's own free will, including the right to belong to a
religion of one's own choice, to convert and embrace another faith,
and to reject faith or religion altogether.

Bobby

Malaysia Rules Muslim Man Can Convert to Christianity
Judge's landmark decision offers hope to Malay Christians amid Bible
seizures and 'Allah' bans.
World Watch Monitor [ posted 3/30/2016 11:03AM ]
John Ragai.

In a landmark ruling last week, a Malaysian court upheld the rights of
a Christian to convert from Islam.

The judgment establishes a precedent in a country where religious
conversions, particularly from Islam to Christianity, have been
steeped in controversy. The verdict reaffirms the right of freedom of
religion, guaranteed under Article 11 of Malaysia's constitution.

Rooney Rebit, the plaintiff, argued that his belief in Jesus was a
fundamental human right, and the High Court in Kuching, Sarawak state,
agreed. The judge, Yew Ken Jie, said, "He is free to exercise his
right of freedom to religion, and he chose Christianity."

Rebit was born into a Christian family in 1975, but his parents
converted to Islam when he was eight years old. His Muslim name was
Azmi Mohamad Azam Shah.

In 1999, Rebit embraced Christianity and was baptized.

In her decision, Yew ruled that since Rebit was underage when he
became a Muslim, he could not be considered an officially professed
Muslim. But when he became a Christian at the age of 24, he was mature
enough to make a conscious decision, she said.

Cases of conversion in Malaysia have been plagued by official
dissension and charges of apostasy as Muslim authorities challenged
verdicts by secular courts in Shari'ah tribunals.

The most prominent suit involved Lina Joy, who converted from Islam to
Christianity in 1998 at the age of 26. Her application to have her
conversion legally recognized by Malaysian courts was rejected in 2007
when the high court said it did not have jurisdiction over religious
matters.

In other cases, one parent (usually the father) has converted children
to Islam, and the appeals of the other parent have been brushed aside
by Islamic authorities.

In this video, Malaysian lawyer Andrew Khoo discusses the recent case
of a Hindu mother who challenged her husband's "unilateral" conversion
of their two children to Islam. In failing to rule on this, the
federal court left the issue unresolved for Malaysia's minority
faiths, he said.


In a country with two parallel legal systems, appeals to secular
courts to right such wrongs are often referred back to the Shari'ah
authorities, who don't grant permission to convert but instead punish
apostates. People who appeal for a change in religion are sent to
counseling, fined, or jailed.

Rebit's case was different: he was not challenging his conversion to
Islam, which would fit under Shari'ah court jurisdiction. Instead,
Rebit asked that he be officially declared a Christian, and for the
Sarawak Islamic Religious Department and Sarawak Islamic Council to
release him from the Muslim faith. He also wanted the court to compel
the government's National Registration Department to change his name
and religion on his identity card and its records.

Sarawak state's Islamic religious authorities did not object to
issuing the letter releasing him from his faith, but the registration
department had insisted on a letter of release and order from the
Shari'ah Court. But Yew, in her decision, ordered the National
Registration Department to make the changes to Rebit's identity card.

She held that Rebit's case was not one of jurisdiction, but of his
constitutional right to religious freedom. "He does not need a
Shari'ah court order to release him from Islam, because freedom of
religion is his constitutional right, and only he can exercise that
right."

She added: "His conversion to the Muslim faith was not of his own
volition, but by virtue of his parents' conversion when he was a
minor. He is not challenging the validity of his conversion as a
minor. But having become a major, he is free to exercise his right of
freedom to religion and he chose Christianity. The National
Registration Department had not acted fairly towards the applicant by
insisting on a letter of release and order from the Sharia Court."

Rebit's lawyer, Chua Kuan Ching, welcomed the decision and said he
hoped that the National Registration Department would not appeal the
judgment. "In previous conversion cases involving minors, the courts
did not go far enough to state what happens when the child reaches
adulthood. So this is a different decision because the judge is saying
that he has the right to religious freedom, according to the
Constitution."

The Association of Churches in Sarawak applauded the ruling for
protecting the fundamental right to freedom of religion: "We call upon
the federal government [in Kuala Lumpur] to honor and give effect to
the guarantee of religious freedom as provided in the Malaysia
Agreement [which formed the basis of Sarawak and Sabah state's union
with Malaysia] and uphold the constitutional rights and fundamental
liberties accorded by the federal constitution to all citizens of
Malaysia."

Sisters in Islam, a civil society group committed to promoting
democratic rights within the framework of Islam and universal human
rights, also welcomed the decision. Their organization, which has come
under criticism from Islamic authorities for its opposition to
prosecuting Muslims attempting to leave Islam, said the judgment
reaffirmed the supremacy of the federal constitution.

"As such, it is our duty to honor these rights equally and fairly,
without regard to race or religion. Where our legal system provides
for the right of conversion, it should not be the case that in reality
the practice of these rights are denied, or made nearly impossible, to
certain religions or races," it said in a statement.

"Acting in the interest of our country and its people does not
conflict with the principles of Islam as Islam is a religion of
compassion and tolerance," the statement went on. "Faith cannot be
imposed through enforcement. Instead, faith is contingent upon free
will. Islam itself means submission to the will of God–not the will of
men."

Rebit's ruling offers hope to the beleaguered Christian community, who
make up 9 percent of the 30-million Malay population. They have
increasingly felt under attack; in recent years, Bibles in the Malay
language have been seized, churches have been barred from using the
word Allah to describe God, and places of worship desecrated.

Khoo, who represented the Council of Churches of Malaysia in the
long-running "Allah case," explains how it affected Malay Christians,
as well as the overall religious freedom situation under current Prime
Minister Najib Razak.

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