PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia – Malaysia’s top civil court Wednesday rejected a woman’s appeal to be recognized as a Christian, in a landmark case that tested the limits of religious freedom in this moderate Islamic country.
Lina Joy, who was born Azlina Jailani, had applied for a name change on her government identity card. The National Registration Department obliged but refused to drop Muslim from the religion column.
She appealed the decision to a civil court but was told she must take it to Islamic Shariah courts. Joy, 43, argued that she should not be bound by Shariah law because she is a Christian.
A three-judge Federal Court panel ruled by a 2-1 majority that only the Islamic Shariah Court has the power to allow her to remove the word “Islam” from the religion category on her government identity card.
“She cannot simply at her own whims enter or leave her religion,” Judge Ahmad Fairuz said. “She must follow rules.”
Judge Richard Malanjum, the only non-Muslim on the panel, sided with Joy, saying it was “unreasonable” to ask her to turn to the Shariah Court because she could face criminal prosecution there. Apostasy is a crime punishable by fines and jail sentences. Offenders are often sent to prison-like rehabilitation centers.
About 60 percent of Malaysia’s 26 million people are Malay Muslims, whose civil, family, marriage and personal rights are decided by Shariah courts. The minorities – the ethnic Chinese, Indians and other smaller communities – are governed by civil courts.
But the constitution does not say who has the final say in cases such as Joy’s when Islam confronts Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism or other religions.
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