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January 6, 2006

Malaysia: Lonely Widow's Battle To Leave Islam

The lady pictured left is Kamariah Ali, who finds it impossible to get a job, whose former friends have rejected her, and who spends much of her time in the law courts, according to MalaysiaKini.

The problems which Ms Ali faces are caused by her simple desire to leave Islam. This is being prevented by Malaysian law. Seven years ago, she publicly renounced Islam. A member of the Sky Kingdom religion, which claims that Christians, Muslims and Buddhists are welcome to worship with its adherents, she and her husband faced continual presecution from the Malaysian religious authorities, the Syariah (Sharia) Courts.

The local Syariah court in Kelantan district has refused to accept Ms Ali's apostasy, and her court battles now happen because Malaysia's constitution specifically places Islamic court rulings as sacrosanct, and judges are not allowed to interfere with "any issue" which is already covered by the Syariah courts.

In Malaysia's constitution, this supremacy of the Syariah courts over the civil judiciary is written into Article 121 (1A) which declares civil courts have no jurisdiction on "any matter" which falls within the scope of the Syariah courts. This ruling has in practice caused consternation for individuals who regard decisions by the Islamic courts as "unfair", and thus causes it to be in direct contradiction of another part of Malaysia's constitution. Article 3(1) of the constitution states that "other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation".

The followers of Ayah Pin, as we discussed earlier have proved how despotic and "unconstitutional" the Islamic courts are on matters of "heresy".

Their ruling that a Hindu man, M. Moorthy, had become a Muslim before his death led to unedifying court drams, as his widow tried to have her husband buried as a Hindu. Her views were regarded as irrelevant by the Syariah courts, and she was given no rights to appeal the decision. On December 28 her lack of right to appeal was upheld by a High Court ruling, and her husband was taken off to be buried as a Muslim.

A letter-writer to MalaysiaKini points out that in Malaysia's Constitution, Schedule IX, List II, limits the scope of the Syariah courts to "persons professing the religion of Islam."

The Sky Kingdom followers have openly admitted that they no longer wish to be traditional "Muslims", and so in theory, the Syariah courts should have no say whatsoever in their cases. But as Syariah courts have the last word on who is or is not a Muslim, there is a Catch-22. The only source of appeal is the Syariah court.

On December 31, Kamariah Ali, and Daud Mamat tried to elicit a ruling that they had a right to freedom of religion (Article 3 (1)), had their cases thrown out by the High Court, because of Article 121 (1A).

Ms Ali's late husband, Mohammed Ya, had been imprisoned for two years for "insulting Islam". He died shortly after he was released from jail. Letter-writer Umran Kadir states:

Drama ensued over his burial when the local authorities prevented his body from being buried in a Muslim cemetery. The syariah system that was so determined to punish him as a Muslim in life was noticeably silent when the opportunity arose to defend his right as a Muslim in death. Eventually he was buried at Kampung Batu 13, Terengganu. His grave was reportedly one of the few monuments left standing after the illegal destruction of the infamous Sky Kingdom structures carried out by government agencies.

His widow too has been jailed for her beliefs, and subjected to various prosecutions by the Syariah authorities, who refused to recognise her faith as that of the Sky Kingdom, and not Islam. In the ruling in the High Court on December 28, Justice Md Raus Sharif told Ms Ali that he had "no power" to decide the issue, because it was a matter of "apostasy" and therefore not under his jurisdiction.

54-year old Ms Ali says: "People look down on me because I renounced Islam. But people don't understand. Actually, religion belongs to God and you can access God in any way, not necessarily through Islam."

The controversial Islamic Family Law bill, which was bulldozed onto the statute books on December 22 is set to erode rights of women in divorce and polygamy cases. It allows a man to freeze the assets of his former wives and his children

Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, who is the nation's Women, Family and Community Development Minister, had been scheduled to discuss making amendments to the bill, but the scheduled meeting, which was booked for the 4th January, has been deferred.

Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, minister in the prime minister's department, said that even though the government was aware of criticisms of the bill, it was decided to pass it into law anyway, with a view to fiddling with amending details later.

If this is a standard approach to law-making and legislature, no wonder the Malaysian constitution is so badly phrased, and self-contradicting.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 6, 2006 8:12 AM

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