FMT:
Twins fail in suit challenging religious status as ‘Muslims’
The High Court says the shariah court is the proper forum to determine their religious status
The Shah Alam High Court has dismissed a suit brought by the sisters seeking a declaration that they were never Muslims.
SHAH ALAM: The High Court here has dismissed a lawsuit filed by two twin sisters seeking to challenge their religious status as Muslims.
Judicial commissioner Rozi Bainun held that the shariah court was the proper forum to determine their religious status.
Rozi noted that the twins had previously filed a lawsuit in the shariah court to determine their religious status.
“The suit was withdrawn last year for reasons that only they knew. It should not have been withdrawn in the first place.
“Since they asserted that they were forced to convert (to Islam), they should present witnesses and evidence (in the shariah court) to prove their claims,” she said.
The sisters, now 26, claimed that their biological mother forced them to convert in 2013, when they were 14, seven years after their biological father died in a car accident.
Their mother subsequently converted to Islam and married a Muslim man.
The twins said their mother then took them to the office of the Muslim Welfare Organisation Malaysia (Perkim) at Jalan Ipoh in 2013, where they were forced to recite the “kalimah shahada” (affirmation of faith) without understanding its meaning.
They contended that they protested their conversions to Islam although their younger brother embraced the religion.
The court was told that Perkim issued certificates of conversions to them after they recited the “affirmation”.
Upon attaining the age of majority, they were issued with identity cards identifying them as Muslims.
They maintained that they have never practised Islam, and continue to live their lives in accordance with original Taoist beliefs.
The sisters filed this lawsuit last year, seeking a declaration that they were never Muslims. They named the Selangor government and Selangor Islamic religious council (Mais) as defendants.
Judicial commissioner Rozi Bainun held that the shariah court was the proper forum to determine their religious status.
Rozi noted that the twins had previously filed a lawsuit in the shariah court to determine their religious status.
“The suit was withdrawn last year for reasons that only they knew. It should not have been withdrawn in the first place.
“Since they asserted that they were forced to convert (to Islam), they should present witnesses and evidence (in the shariah court) to prove their claims,” she said.
The sisters, now 26, claimed that their biological mother forced them to convert in 2013, when they were 14, seven years after their biological father died in a car accident.
Their mother subsequently converted to Islam and married a Muslim man.
The twins said their mother then took them to the office of the Muslim Welfare Organisation Malaysia (Perkim) at Jalan Ipoh in 2013, where they were forced to recite the “kalimah shahada” (affirmation of faith) without understanding its meaning.
They contended that they protested their conversions to Islam although their younger brother embraced the religion.
The court was told that Perkim issued certificates of conversions to them after they recited the “affirmation”.
Upon attaining the age of majority, they were issued with identity cards identifying them as Muslims.
They maintained that they have never practised Islam, and continue to live their lives in accordance with original Taoist beliefs.
The sisters filed this lawsuit last year, seeking a declaration that they were never Muslims. They named the Selangor government and Selangor Islamic religious council (Mais) as defendants.
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I had an office colleague, a Malay Muslim, who lived the life of a non-Muslim. He OPENLY ate char siew, siew yoke, BKT, dimsum, char siew pau, and didn't care two hoots who saw him doing so. He of course didn't fast at all during Ramadan. Don't know what happened to him; last he was living with a Chinese woman.
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