News Mania Desk/Agnibeena Ghosh/21th August 2024
A woman from Selangor, Malaysia, who was unilaterally converted to Islam at the age of four, is making one last bid to have her religious status declared as non-Muslim. Now 38 years old, the woman, identified only as D for privacy reasons, is seeking a review from Malaysia’s Federal Court after years of legal battles to overturn her designation as a Muslim.
D’s journey began when she was converted to Islam by her mother, who was a Buddhist at the time. Her father, a Hindu, was never informed of this conversion, nor did he consent to it. This lack of parental consent has been central to D’s legal efforts to correct what she believes was an unjust imposition of a religious identity upon her.
According to her lawyer, Surendra Ananth, D filed an application with the Federal Court on August 16, requesting the highest court in the country to reconsider its previous decision. This appeal follows a complex legal history: In December 2021, a High Court ruling declared D as “not a person professing the religion of Islam,” a decision which was later overturned by the Court of Appeal in January 2023. The Court of Appeal reinstated her status as a Muslim in a 2-1 decision.
Further attempts to contest this decision were made on May 3, 2023, when the Federal Court, in another 2-1 ruling, upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision and dismissed D’s appeal. Now, D is asking for a new panel of judges at the Federal Court to review and potentially overturn the majority decision made in May 2023.
D’s application for review argues that the previous decision led to a serious miscarriage of justice. She contends that the decision was made in error, ignoring relevant laws and previous court decisions, and was made beyond the court’s jurisdiction, thus violating principles of natural justice.
The Federal Court has scheduled September 18 for case management of D’s application. D has been engaged in legal battles for nearly 11 years, beginning her quest at the age of 25 in 2011. Her initial attempt was to remove the “Islam” label from her identity card to reflect her true religious identity as a non-Muslim. However, her application was rejected by the National Registration Department, and her subsequent petitions to the Shariah courts also failed.
D’s legal struggle has continued through the civil courts, where she has maintained that she was born a Hindu, practiced Hinduism throughout her life, and never professed or practiced Islam. She has also asserted that she never recited the kalimah syahadah, the declaration of faith required for conversion to Islam.
As D awaits the Federal Court’s review, her case underscores the complexities and challenges individuals may face when seeking to rectify religious status imposed upon them without their consent. The outcome of her application could have significant implications for similar cases and the broader legal landscape concerning religious identity and conversion in Malaysia.
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