By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, Oct 16: A teenager’s desire to embrace Buddhism faced a setback as the Kuching High Court dismissed his mother’s legal action aimed at changing the Islamic status on his MyKad.
The 17-year-old, who is set to turn 18 this coming October 18, had sought to identify as a non-Muslim.
The High Court today set to hear the woman’s application whose son currently bears a Muslim name on his MyKad, seeking a declaration affirming her right to make decisions about her son’s religion and upbringing.
High Court Judge Dato Zaleha Rose Pandin today rejected 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 court’s ruling indicated that, unlike a 2021 Federal Court verdict, which allowed a person to be declared non-Muslim due to the absence of evidence of an Islamic marriage, this case presented evidence of an Islamic marriage and divorce. Therefore, the mother was bound by Islamic procedures.
The court’s grounds for the ruling were that the changes sought for the MyKad were equivalent to renouncing the Islamic faith, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Syariah Court, not the civil court.
The judge also emphasised that unilateral declarations on matters of faith were not permitted, and there were established processes for such matters.
The plaintiff has filed an originating summons in the High Court against six parties, including the Malaysian Births, Deaths and Adoptions director, the Sarawak regional Registrar of Births and Deaths, the Identity Card Division director, the National Registration Department (JPN) director-general, JPN, and the federal government.
The case revolves around the teenage son who has professed the Buddhist faith throughout his life. The boy was born in Sabah and now residing in Sarawak.
The mother asserted that her son’s Muslim father has no objections to him being a Buddhist, and the teenager himself has expressed support for his mother’s legal challenge against JPN’s alleged delay in changing his religious status on his MyKad.
In an affidavit dated August 9, the teenage boy stated, “I was born on Oct 18, 2005. I understand my parents are divorced. I am a Buddhist. During my schooling years, I have not taken any Islamic religious classes. I have not practised Islam in my life. My father has not objected to me being a Buddhist. I want to be identified as a non-Muslim. “
The mother, in her affidavit, emphasised that she and the boy’s father had married under Sabah’s Islamic Family Law Enactment 1992 on August 3, 1999, while she was a practising Buddhist.
Their son was born on August 18, 2005. Subsequently, they divorced on January 27, 2010, pursuant to the Federal Territory’s Islamic Family Law Act 1984.
The mother claimed that she obtained sole care and custody of their son, raising him as a Buddhist since birth, while her former husband, who is a Muslim, has since remarried and started his own family.
“As the parent having 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 that are contradictory to the child’s upbringing,” the mother stated in the affidavit.
The legal battle emerged when the mother and her lawyers attempted to change her son’s identity card registers on July 5, 2023.
Allegedly, a female JPN counter staff member refused to accept the application, providing separate forms instead. The mother resubmitted the application on July 18 with supporting documents from her former husband and their son, which JPN eventually accepted.
Her lawyer also sent a letter to the State JPN, and the department responded on July 31, neither granting nor rejecting the application and requested even more forms. The mother argued that these forms were repetitive, primarily the second and third ones, save for the provisions of the relevant ordinance.
Stressing her rights as a Malaysian citizen, the mother asserted that she has the right to correct the details on her son’s identity card in any part of the country. She reiterated that the father has not objected to their child’s religious upbringing and has supported their application to amend the child’s birth register and identity card.
The mother further noted that her son is known to friends, family, teachers, and the community by his Chinese name, and they both actively participate in a Buddhist society.
The plaintiff is represented by Clarice Chan and Joshua Baru, while Senior Federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassa represented all six respondents. — DayakDaily
