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December 1, 2006

Malaysia: Islamist Courts Win Fight Over Corpse

A year ago, an undignified battle took place over the mortal remains of a Hindu mountaineering hero, Lt Corporal Moorthy. The case highlighted the contradictions in Malaysia's constitution, and how, despite its claims to be a moderate Muslim nation, Malaysia is an authoritarian Islamist state, where Islam comes before all else, including the rights of its non-Muslim minorities.

Lt Corporal Moorthy had been on the first Malaysian team to reach the summit of Everest in 1997, and had been regarded as a national hero, even though he was a Hindu. In 1998 Moorthy was injured in a training exercise, which paralyzed him. Last year, he fell from his wheelchair and lapsed into a coma.

While 36-year old Moorthy was in his coma, army colleagues then told the authorities that the former mountaineer had secretly converted to Islam a year earlier. As a result, when Moorthy died in December, the Islamic Affairs Department claimed custody of his body, saying that he was to be buried as a Muslim.

Kaliammal Moorthy went to the High Court to claim rights over her husband's body, desiring to have him buried according to Hindu custom. She told the court that he drank alcohol and took part in Hindu festivals, and had never converted to Islam.

The judge, Justice Mohammed Raus Sharif, told Kaliammal that he had no power to act against the Islamic authorities. An amendment had been made to the Constitution in 1988, to the effect that Article 121 (1A) now states that civil courts have no jurisdiction on "any matter" which falls within the jurisdiction of the Syariah (Islamic) courts.

As a result, on December 28, 2005, Moorthy's body was taken by the Islamic Affairs Department, washed, wrapped and buried with Muslim rites. His widow was not present at the funeral.

All citizens of Malaysia are obliged to carry a card which denotes their ethnic and religious status. This card, called MyKad is issued to people when they are 12 years old. Because of the racial apartheid practiced in Malaysia, all ethnic Malays are registered as "Muslims". All the details on the MyKad, including non-Muslims' conversion to Islam, are recorded by the National Registration Department.

At no stage had Moorthy registered with the National Registration Department that he had converted to Islam, and at no point during the proceedings of either the Sharia court or the High Court did the Islamic Affairs Department produce any documentary evidence to prove their case that Moorthy had converted. Based upon a rumor, and nothing more, Kaliammal's claims were ignored and overridden.

The case sparked a national scandal. When it was widely reported in the international press, deputy prime minister Najib Tun Razak tried to make amends to Mrs Moorthy. In January 2006, Razak gave Lt Corporal Moorthy a promotion to the rank of Sarjan (Sergeant) backdated to June 2005. As defense minister, Razak's move was honored by the military, and allowed Mrs Moorthy increased widow's benefits.

At the recent 57th annual congress of the ruling party, UMNO, which has ruled in coalition governments continuously since Malaysia's independence of August 31, 1957, some party members threatened violence against non-Muslims who did not accept the policy of "ketuanan Melayu", the "Malay agenda". This doctrine states that the Malay people, who are all regarded as "Muslim", are the original and defining populace of Malaya, and thus should have special status and privileges.

Though UMNO promotes another doctrine of "Islam Hadhari" or "civilizational Islam", it supports the discrimination against non-Muslims, and the contradictions in the constitution which forbid anyone from converting out of Islam. Article 3(1) of the Constitution indicates that 'other religions (apart from Islam) may be practiced in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation. Article 11 gives citizens the right to profess and practise any religion they choose, even though Article 121 (1A) dictates that civil courts have no jurisdiction on "any matter" which comes under the ruling of the Islamic Courts.

Issues of changing one's faith out of Islam falls under the terms of the Syariah or Islamic Courts. Even though a person may claim under Article 11 that they can profess any religion of their choosing, the National Registration Department refuses to acknowledge anyone's conversion unless it has been approved by the Islamic Courts.

And so far, in 49 years of independence from British rule, there has not been a single case of anyone being allowed by these courts to officially apostasize, or renounce their claim to be Muslim. The only person ever to be allowed to convert out of Islam was only granted this privilege AFTER she had died.

Nyonya Tahir (pictured top right), an 89 year old Buddhist woman, died on Thursday, January 19 this year. During her life, Nyonya had appealed to the National Registration Department repeatedly to have her designation as "Muslim" removed from her MyKad. She was an ethnic Malay. Ethnic Malays comprise 50.8% of the population, but because of the religious and racist apartheid of Malaysia's NRD, she was automatically classed as a Muslim. She had become a Buddhist when she married a Chinese man in 1936.

When Nyonya's family tried to have her buried as a Buddhist, the Syariah courts commandeered her body. For the first time in recorded history, the Islamic courts heard evidence from Buddhists - two of Nyonya's children. Finally, on January 23, the Sharia court allowed Mrs Tahir to be buried as a Buddhist.

Muhamad Burok, president of the Malaysian Syariah Lawyers Association dishonestly stated: "It shows that our two court systems - the Civil Court and Syariah Court - can exist in harmony, so the issue that the Constitution should be amended does not arise. The decision shows that everyone can get protection from all the courts."

Once more, the issue of Malaysia's Islamofascist policies has been in the national media, and once again, it involves the undignified spectacle of the Islamic courts holding a tug of war over a dead body, in defiance of the wishes of the deceased's relatives.

This time, the subject of the dispute is a Christian, 71 year old Rayappan Anthony, who had lived at Shah Alam, Selangor state. He died in Kuala Lumpur Hospital on Wednesday, November 29, as a result of complications, arising from his diabetes. There was chaos in the hospital morgue as the two factions of the family and the representatives of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department claimed rights to the corpse. The family demanded rights to have their relative buried as a Christian, while the Islamists insisted that Rayyapan was a Muslim.

For a day, the body remained in the morgue as the factions argued. A lawyer for the deceased's family, A. Sivesan, said that Rayappan had embraced Islam on January 20, 1990. He had become a Muslim in order to marry an Indian Muslim wife. (Under Malaysia's religious apartheid, a non-Muslim man and a Muslim woman are legally prevented from marrying). Rayappan had changed his name to a Muslim one - Muhammad Rayappan Abdullah.

Sivanesan said on Thursday, November 30, at the morgue: "But after about eight years of being a Muslim, Rayappan decided to return to his family and applied to renounce the faith." Sivenesan said that Rayappan had made a sworn declaration before a Commissioner for Oaths to renounce Islam, but had not submitted the letter until the day he died.

On May 10 1999, Sivenasan claimed, Rayappan applied to the National Registration Department (NRD) by submitting his sworn declaration. He had been issued with a new MyKad, which was under his non-Muslim name, Rayappan Anthony.

Sivenesan said that he had spoken to officials from the Selangor Islamic Religious Department on the morning of Thursday, November 30, and had handed to them all the legal documentation from the NRD. He said that the issue would be taken to the Syariah (Sharia) Court on Friday, December 1.

Rayappan's daughter, 42-year old Jaymarie said that her father had stopped being a Muslim when he went back to his Christian family and his former wife, her 65-year old mother M. Lourdesmary, in 1999. She said: "We hope we can claim the body amicably and our lawyer has given all the documents to JAIS (Selangor Islamic Religious Department, also called MAIS)."

So on Friday (today), the issue was adjudicated upon by the Islamic court of Shah Alam. As a result, the court has predictably ruled that former van-driver Rayappan is a Muslim, even though he had officially proclaimed himself to be no longer a follower of the faith.

At Shah Alam Syariah Court the Sharia High Court judge, Abu Zaky Mohammad, ruled that the body should be buried according to Muslim tradition. Juraish Kamaruddin had produced documents to support the claim that Rayappan had embraced Islam.

Apparently ignoring the documents from lawyer A. Sivenesan, which claimed that Rayappan had renounced his embrace of Islam, Abu Zaky Mohammad considered the issues during a closed hearing which lasted 55 minutes. He ruled that only on Monday, December 4, can the body of Rayappan be claimed by JAIS. (This is because the order was issued in a different state, the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, and each state has its own Syariah rules).

Lawyer A Sivenesan announced that the family will be filing a civil suit in the High Court at Wisna Denmark on Monday.

A spokesman for the Selangor Islamic Religious Department said that the family could be allowed to hold last rites for Rayappan, in accordance with their Catholic faith.

He said: "There have been previous cases on special request where the council allowed the family of deceased converts to perform last rites according to their own beliefs, provided they promised to surrender the body to us to be buried according to Muslim rites. In Rayappan's case, we are also open to negotiation."

The family's civil suit will ultimately be rejected by the High Court as, according to Article 121 (1A) of the Constitution, civil courts have no jurisdiction on "any matter" which comes under the ruling of the Islamic Courts. But at least their case will further draw attention to the religious apartheid and social injustice which proliferates in Malaysia.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at December 1, 2006 11:29 PM

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