Malaysia PM says no govt pressure in religion ruling

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has said the government did not interfere in a decision by the country's top secular court to reject a woman's bid for legal recognition as a Christian.

Abdullah said his government did not put any pressure whatsoever on the three Federal Court judges who, in a 2-1 decision rendered Wednesday, rejected Lina Joy's attempt to win legal acknowledgement of her conversion from Islam.

"I have never expected or pressured the court to make a political decision," Abdullah was quoted in the New Straits Times as telling a press conference late Thursday.

"I believe the judges took into account all the facts of the case to make their decision, and they have made it."

Born a Muslim, Joy, 43, had waged a decade-long battle to have the word "Islam" removed from her national identity card after her conversion to Christianity.

But the Federal Court threw out her case and said only an Islamic sharia tribunal could legally certify her conversion. The only non-Muslim judge on the panel disagreed with the decision.

"They must have a hole in their heads if they say it's a political decision," Abdullah was quoted as saying in the Star daily.

The prime minister also dismissed suggestions the decision was anti-Christian or that religious divisions were widening in multicultural Malaysia.

"Discussions on religion have become more widespread but this does not represent a divide," Abdullah said.

Malaysia's civil courts operate in parallel to sharia courts for Muslims in areas of family law including divorce, child custody and inheritance.
Joy's case was seen as crucial to the debate over which takes precedence.

Muslim groups had strongly criticised Joy's bid as an attempt to undermine Islam, which is Malaysia's official religion.

Criticism of the decision mounted Friday from lawyers, rights groups and academics, who said it had undermined the country's secular constitution, which guarantees the freedom of religious practice.

The executive Director of the rights group Suaram, Yap Swee Seng, said Joy would open herself up to a possible conviction for apostasy if she went to a sharia court over her conversion.

Renouncing the faith is one of the gravest sins in Islam.

"Directing Lina Joy to sharia court and ignoring the fact she will be criminalised and convicted in the sharia court is a total denial of freedom of religion as guaranteed under the federal constitution," Yap told AFP.