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PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court, in a unanimous ruling today, allowed a woman to declare that she is free to practice Buddhism.
Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who allowed the statement requested by Rosliza Ibrahim, said that the appellant is an illegitimate daughter and that Islamic law does not apply to her.
However, the court was divided on whether Islamic religious law could apply to Rosliza.
Tengku Maimun, Rohana Yusuf, Nallini Pathmanathan, Abdul Rahman Sebli, Zabariah Mohd Yusof, Mary Lim Thiam Suan, and Rhodzariah Bujang were the majority.
Azahar Mohamed and Hasnah Mohammed Hashim took the position that the civil court should obtain an opinion from the corresponding fatwa committee on its illegitimacy in Islamic law.
On the facts, all the judges held that this was a case in which Rosliza never left Islam.
The effect of today’s verdict is that a person could go to civil court to determine whether he is Muslim by birth or not.
However, if it is a Muslim who wants to leave Islam, that person has to go to the sharia court.
The state government and the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) were the defendants in Rosliza’s lawsuit, while the federal government was presented as a friend of the court to assist the judges.
Rosliza, who was born to a Muslim father but was raised as a Buddhist by her mother, had taken the position that the Islamic laws of Selangor do not apply to her and that the sharia court has no jurisdiction over her.
She said that she is presumed to be born Muslim, based on the assumption of a valid marriage between her parents and the assumption that her late mother had converted to Islam.
Rosliza said that she had gone to religious authorities in 10 other states and had obtained confirmation that her parents had no record of her mother converting to Islam or that a Muslim marriage had taken place.
The Shah Alam High Court dismissed her claim in April 2017 on the grounds that the evidence she presented was insufficient and her remedy was the sharia court.
Attorneys Gopal Sri Ram, Aston Paiva and Yasmeen Soh represented Rosliza. State Legal Counsel Salim Soib, Senior Federal Attorney Siti Fatimah Talib and State Legal Officer Muhammad Haziq Hashim appeared for the Selangor government.
Attorneys Abdul Rahim Sinwan, Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar and Azman Marsaleh represented MAIS, while top federal attorneys Suzana Atan, Shamsul Bolhassan and K Kogilambigai appeared for Putrajaya.
Attorney Mansoor Saat represented the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), while attorney Philip Koh Tong Ngee made an observation report for the Malaysian Advisory Council on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism.
Attorney Low Wei Loke represented the Bar Association.
