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By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, Sept 11: The High Court here set Nov 11 to hear an application on the rights of parents to determine the religious and cultural upbringing of their children.
A woman, whose 17-year-old son currently bears a Muslim name on his MyKad, is seeking a declaration affirming her right to make decisions about her son’s religion and upbringing.
The plaintiff has filed an originating summons in the High Court against six parties, including the Malaysian Births, Deaths & 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 is set to be heard before High Court Judge Dato Zaleha Rose Pandin who today ordered submissions of both parties to be filed and exchanged by Oct 4 and fixed the hearing for Nov 11.
The case revolves around the teenage son, who has professed the Buddhist faith throughout his life. The mother asserts 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. The boy was born in Sabah and now resides in Sarawak.
In an affidavit dated August 9, the teenage son 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 Oct 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 a second 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 her 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 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 represents all six respondents. — DayakDaily
