Teen to remain Muslim after High Court rejects mum's bid to change status

Teen to remain Muslim after High Court rejects mum's bid to change status


A Sabah-born teenager's dream to embrace Buddhism was dashed today when the Kuching High Court dismissed his mother's legal action to change the Islamic status on his MyKad.

The family's counsel Clarice Chan confirmed with Malaysiakini that the Sarawak civil court this afternoon dismissed the mother's legal challenge against the National Registration Department’s (NRD) alleged delay in changing her son's religious status on his MyKad.

The boy, who is set to turn 18 on Wednesday, previously made a declaration in his affidavit to support his Buddhist mother’s legal challenge that his Muslim father had no objections to him being Buddhist.

Speaking after today’s online proceedings, Chan said judge Zaleha Rose Pandin dismissed the legal action.

The lawyer explained that the brief grounds of the ruling were that the boy was born a Muslim and that the changes sought for the MyKad were tantamount to renouncing the faith and not simply seeking a declaration.

Chan said the judge found that the civil court did not have the jurisdiction when it comes to renouncing the Islamic faith as it is the purview of the Syariah Court.

The lawyer said the judge ruled that notwithstanding that the child did not profess or practise or was raised a Muslim, one cannot make unilateral declarations as there are processes on the matter.

The ruling pointed out that, unlike the 2021 Federal Court verdict that allowed Rosliza Ibrahim to be declared non-Muslim as there was no evidence of an Islamic marriage, the boy’s case showed evidence of an Islamic marriage and divorce, thus the mother is bound by Islamic procedures.


On whether the mother would appeal to the Court of Appeal, Chan said she would seek instructions on whether to do so.

When contacted, senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan representing the government who is one of the respondents targeted by the legal action, confirmed the civil court verdict.


‘I am a Buddhist’

In his affidavit, the 17-year-old residing in Sarawak said he was born on Oct 18, 2005, and understood that his parents were divorced, explaining that he had just completed his schooling at a Chinese vernacular school in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

“I am a Buddhist. During my schooling years, I have not taken any Islamic religious classes. I have not practised Islam in my life,” he said, stating that his friends knew him by his Chinese name.

“I have never professed or practised any other religion in my life. My father has not objected to me being a Buddhist. I want to be identified as a non-Muslim,” the teen emphasised in the affidavit affirmed on Aug 9.

In August before the Kuching High Court, the teen’s 52-year-old mother filed the originating summons against the Malaysian Births, Deaths and Adoptions director; the Sarawak Regional Registrar of Births and Deaths; the Identity Card Division director; the NRD director-general; NRD; and the federal government, as the first to sixth defendants.

The mother was seeking a declaration that she had the right to determine the religion and upbringing of her son, who has a Muslim name on his MyKad.

The plaintiff sought a civil court order to compel the first, second and third defendants to record changes in her son’s MyKad in relation to religion.

According to her affidavit in support, she and her then-husband had married under Sabah’s Islamic Family Law Enactment 1992 on Aug 3, 1999, with their son being born later on Aug 18, 2005.

Reiterating that she was a practising Buddhist at the time, she said the couple divorced on Jan 27, 2010, pursuant to the Federal Territory’s Islamic Family Law Act 1984.

She said that she obtained sole care and custody of their son, who was raised as a Buddhist since birth, and that her former husband has since remarried and has a separate family.


Endless NRD forms

The mother claimed that problems began on July 5 when she and her lawyers applied to the Sarawak NRD to change the details in her son’s identity card registers.

The applicant claimed that a woman personnel at the state government department’s counter refused to accept the application and that the latter gave a separate set of forms for the former to fill up.

The mother claimed that she had then submitted the application again on July 18 with supporting documents from her former husband as well as their son, which was accepted by the department.

She alleged that following her lawyers’ letter to the state NRD, the department replied via a letter dated July 31 that neither granted nor rejected the application and that it had instead asked her to fill out even more forms.

The mother pointed out that the forms were repetitive as they were in essence identical - especially the second and third forms - save for the provisions of the relevant ordinance.

She contended that as a Malaysian, she is entitled to correct the details on her son’s identity card in the relevant register in any part of the country.

“The father has not objected to the child’s religious upbringing. He is also supportive of our application to amend the details of the child’s birth register and identity card.

“The child has never attended a religious class in school. He has not practised or professed the religion of Islam at all material times,” she contended.

Not only is her son known to his friends, family, teachers and community by his Chinese name, but she and her son are also part of a Buddhist society in Kuching.

“As the parent with sole custody and care of the child, it is my right to determine the child’s education and religious upbringing.

“The child’s best interest is to be given paramount consideration.

“The department should not maintain details on the record which are contradictory to the child’s upbringing,” the mother emphasised in the affidavit dated Aug 9 and filed by Kuching-based law firm, Messrs Baru Bian Advocates and Solicitors.