Joint Press Statement
STOP DISCRIMINATION AGAINST NON-MUSLIMS IN CASES OF CONVERSION TO ISLAM
19 January 2006

JAG is gravely concerned that the conflict between Syariah and civil laws in Malaysia is also impacting non-Muslims, especially in cases where one of two non-Muslim spouses decides to convert to Islam. We are worried about the problems that arise including, but not limited to, divorce, inheritance, maintenance and child custody. In cases that have been highlighted so far, non-converting spouses are denied effective remedies:

• Kaliammal Sinnasamy, the wife of the deceased M. Moorthy or Mohammad Abdullah, has been assured that she will receive benefits due to her. However, it is still unclear if she will be the beneficiary of the rest of his estate that might include his property, EPF, SOCSO, bank accounts, insurance and any other monies owing to her. Since all his assets are regarded as "pusaka" and are divided according to faraid then as a non-Muslim, Kaliammal nor her children are
  entitled to the estate. The fact also remains that she was told of his conversion only after his death. To add insult to injury, Moorthy was given a Muslim burial based on an exparte Syariah court order without any regard for his Hindu family's grief.
  
  
• Ng Giok Song also found out about her husband's conversion to Islam only after his death. Upon his death, his estate was awarded to Baitulmal Malacca. In October 2005, After 13 years later, Ng finally saw some part of this estate, when one house that belonged to her late husband was 'donated' to her. In the meantime she took on several odd jobs to raise the children, one of whom has a serious health condition.
  
  
• Shamala Sathiyaseelan's husband converted to Islam, and then proceeded to use:
  • A civil court order to gain access to their children, whom Shamala had won custody of from the High court, and
  • A Shariah court order to keep them. He went on to convert their children, aged two and four at the time, to Islam, and this conversion was upheld by the High Court.

In these three cases, the non-Muslim women were completely ignorant about the consequences of their husbands' conversion to Islam. What concerns us is that there may be many more cases that have gone unreported. The Government should take steps to remedy this abuse of the rights of non-Muslims, especially the non-Muslim family members, and uphold justice and equality for all Malaysians, regardless of faith.

In line with the spirit of justice, equality and human rights as enshrined in our Constitution, we thus call on:

• The authorities to ensure that the family members of the Muslim convert be given their due rights such as right to maintenance and inheritance.
• Both the civil and Syariah courts to conform to the spirit of justice and equality of all citizens before the law;
• The media to continue to provide fair and balanced coverage, and to allow for critical public debate on this issue;
• Our fellow citizens of all faiths to continue to speak out against a system that perpetuates injustice in the name of the religion of the majority.

Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG):
Sisters in Islam (SIS)
All Women's Action Society (AWAM)
Women's Aid Organisation (WAO)
Women's Centre for Change Penang (WCC)
Women's Development Collective (WDC)
MTUC - Women's Section