No joy for Lina

May 30, 07 11:18am :

Lina Joy's long wait for her conversion to Christianity to be
recognised by law is over - the Federal Court ruled today that she
remains a Muslim and her religious status will not be removed from her
identity card.

Delivering the judgment to a packed gallery this morning in Putrajaya,
Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim ruled that jurisdiction
remains with the Syariah court.

The chief justice stated that he concurred with the majority decision
- Justice Alauddin Mohd Sheriff who was the last to read his judgment
agreed with Ahmad Fairuz's findings.

Justice Richard Malanjun gave a dissenting judgment.

The case hinged on a decision by the National Registration Department
not to remove the word `Islam' from Lina's MyKad.

The department said it needed a syariah court order certifying her
renouncement from Islam before it could make the change.

The three questions

Following this, Lina filed a suit against the NRD director-general,
the government and the Federal Territory Religious Council in 2001.

After losing at both the High Court and Court of Appeal, the matter
finally came to the Federal Court with these three questions:

1. Was the NRD entitled to require a person to produce a certificate
or a declaration or an order from the syariah court before deleting
"Islam" from his or her identity card;

2. Did the NRD correctly construe its powers under the National
Registration Regulations 1990 when it imposed the above requirement,
which is not expressly provided for in the regulations? ; and

3. Was the landmark case Soon Singh vs Perkim Kedah – which held that
syariah courts have the authority over the civil courts to hear cases
of Muslims renouncing Islam – correctly decided?

Delivering the much-awaited judgment today, Ahmad Fairuz and Alauddin
answered in the positive to all these three questions.

Richard however disagreed, stating that the NRD had no statutory duty
to decide on apostasy.

Ahmad Fairuz said the NRD, which is in charge of issuing identity
cards, had the right to demand that a syariah court certify Lina's
conversion.

"On the question that the National Registration Department has the
right to demand a certification from the Islamic court that confirms
the appellant's renunciation of Islam, my answer is that NRD has the
right," he said.

"The appeal has been rejected with cause," he added.

Shouts of Allahuakbar

A large section of the 300-strong crowd waiting outside recited the
tahlil or read the Quran while waiting for the decision.

When the news reached them, they shouted Allahuakbar - their reaction
resounded through the Palace of Justice.

Born to Malay parents, Joy, 43, whose Muslim name was Azlina Jailani,
converted to Christianity in 1998.



The moment I read this article, my heart filled with limitless gratitude. However, this doesn't mean that the effort to bring down Islam will eradicate, I'm afraid it will become stronger and stronger even more..I urge myself and all of the Muslims out there, to remain steadfast in imaan..Be proud that we are MUSLIM...Alhamdulillah.