Religious freedom in Malaysia

Every time a person is converted to Islam and this may not be disclosed to the next of kin, it creates a lot of controversy, anger and anxiety when finally at death, he’s discovered to be converted to Muslim.

Early this year, it was proposed if one of the spouse is converted, the family members need to be notified or are aware of the repercussion and its implication. Like all religious matters, it is a sensitive issue. I can understand the unhappiness of the family of the late B.Elangesvaran who was buried in Muslim cemetory and family members failed to stop the burial as the court have ruled that he had converted to a Muslim.

I think all of us accept Islam as official religion in Malaysia. All right thinking Malaysians also accept the fact that we have religious freedom that anyone of us is allowed to have the religion of our choice and this is enshrined in the constitution. Upon the conversion of any person, there are areas of concern for the spouse who has freely chosen to remain in his / her faith, i.e. on issues of divorce, division of assets, maintenance, distribution and inheritance. Custody and guardianship of children, and the ability to have an equal say in determining their religion and upbringing, are also matters of great concern.

The legislative pillar of the government must study this matter with utmost concern and care in order to find an amicable solution.

The law must be reformed, to ensure that when an individual embraces Islam, the convert’s spouse (or ex-spouse), children and other family members’ rights and entitlements under civil laws remain unchanged. Regardless of such conversion, all issues arising out of the marriage must be settled according to civil law, and not state Islamic law enactments, since the marriage was solemnised or registered under civil law. Furthermore, legislation must be adopted to specify that only the civil courts have jurisdiction to hear any matter.

MCA is convinced that the rights and entitlements of the unconverted spouse must be guaranteed and so any legal and extra legal solutions must be, simply put. There is a need to build an alliance with the people of different faiths and develop clear policy statement, encourage dialogue between various faiths in order to achieve better understanding and accommodative attitude among different faiths;

MCA stands with the people to uphold and respect religious freedom, and against the spirit of overzealousness and intentional discrimination based on religion. We recognized that profession of faith is primarily a personal choice and involves freedom of conscience. MCA therefore calls for every person to be allowed the freedom to choose his / her religion.

Another sore point among the non-Muslims is the place of worship. Often, application for building and renovation will take years and some never see the light of the day. Often at the state level, such matter has to be referred to Security Council with representation from Muslim Council and non from non Muslim. This is something which is grossly unfair since you are a Muslim deciding on matters concerning non-Muslim. Often this council hardly meets and this explains why such application takes a long time.

When I was in the state government in Johor from 1990 – 2004, I failed to persuade the state government to set up an Inter-religion council so that such matter can be better coordinated. As to the alienation of land, although the Johor state government has allocated lands for worship for non Muslim, often personal touch and connection where the state executive council is important and I notice that the Majlis Keselamatan did not approve land applied by non-Muslim organizations. However, I am glad to say that those decisions are overruled by us and supported by Menteri Besar of Johor at the State Executive Council. The state government should formalize the provision of land for worship by non-Muslim and also the need to formalize the process for approval to repair, rebuild and erect building for worship. Until then, while we may have religious freedom, we not have equal and fair treatment and this is a point brought up by MCA at state and federal level. Success has been limited so far.