Time to change

Categories: Malaysia

It is indeed heartening to know that there are groups out there who have urged the Government to review Article 121 (1A) of the Federal Constitution, which had since 1988 prohibited the civil court from having jurisdiction over Syariah court matters. What is more significant is that some of them are Muslims themselves. Previously only non-Muslims and the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism are making the call. This shows that Article 121(1A) indeed needs to be refined and less ambiguous. Even the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz had said that the Cabinet felt that while the Syariah court had jurisdiction over cases where the status of a Muslim convert was in question, the right avenue for the issue to be resolved was through the civil court. The issue comes to fore following the High Court ruling on Dec 28, 2005 that the civil court has no jurisdiction over the Syariah court and hence unable to try the dispute regarding the conversion of the late Mount Everest climber Sjn M. Moorthy to a Muslim. [Star Online, Jan 8, 2006]

Following the ruling, non-Muslims felt vulnerable as there seemed to be no avenue to dispute any conversion where documentation are not available or conversion had been kept from relatives. It is understandable because in the eyes of the non-Muslims, conversion had not taken place and therefore the dispute should be tried in a civil court and not a Syariah court. And if the case were to be tried in a Syariah court, wouldn't this mean that conversion had taken place and therefore there judgement is irrelevant. Catch 22 situation.

In the eyes of the non-Muslim this ruling had further enhanced their perception that the government had not been entirely fair when implementing the freedom of religion policy. Whatever avenue there was previously had now been closed when it comes to religion.

A more direct effect would be that on the family. Technically, if the husband had converted and the wife had not converted, then they would have commited khalwat or even zina. The wife and children would not be entitled to his property. His marriage would have been resolved.

Therefore it is most welcome for Malaysians - both Muslims and non-Muslims - to come out and urge the government to reveal Article 121 (1A).