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PERSPECTIVE OF APOSTASY IN MALAYSIA

Apostasy in Malaysia has been a serious issue nowadays. The statistics also had shown an

increasing graph of status people request to change their religious especially from Islam. Thereasons why people request to change their religious based on www.islamweb.com can be

divided into 2:1- Ignorance: The Muslims are ignorant regarding their religion and have misconceptions

about it, in addition to not knowing the seriousness of apostasy. Moreover, the inability

of the callers to Islam to fulfill their main obligation of conveying and teaching people

their religion is the main reason of the spread of ignorance among the Muslims. In

addition to this, the enemies of Islam, like the Christian missionaries and those like

them, are steadfast in spreading their wrong beliefs.

2- The spread of poverty and the need for money: the organizations which call to

falsehood lure the Muslims by fulfilling their worldly need and helping them materiallyby providing them with some of the pleasures of this worldly life. This is indeed a

misguidance caused by following one's desires; the cause for this is the negligence of

some Muslim Charity Organizations and the wealthy Muslims who do not fulfill their

obligation of helping their Muslim brothers.

The seriousness of this issue also has attracted other country to done some research about this

issue. A refugee review tribunal from Australia indicates that converting from Islam to

Christianity in Malaysia is very difficult, if not illegal and impossible. While based on the US

Department of States International Religious Freedom Report 2007, is stated that Muslim may

generally not convert to another religion. This is because the respective person needs to

request it on the Federal court. And Federal courts need to refer the apostasy cases to Sharia

courts first before it can make a decision.

State authorities impose Islamic religious laws administered through Islamic courts on all ethnic

Malays (and other Muslims) in family law and other civil matters Muslims may generally not

convert to another religion. Although article 11 of the Federal Constitution guarantees

religious freedom, the countrys highest court ruled during the reporting period that Muslims

wanting to convert to another religion must first obtain approval from a Sharia court. The

courts decision effectively precludes the conversion of Muslims, since the Sharia courts have

granted only a handful of requests to convert to another religion in recent years In practice

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Muslims are not permitted to convert to another religion On May 30, 2007, the Federal Court

ruled that Muslim individuals must obtain an order from the Sharia Court stating that they have

become an apostate (they have renounced Islam) before they can change their national

identity card. As apostasy grants (grants of permission to convert to another religion) by the

Sharia Court are extremely rare, the courts decision effectively precludes any legal right of

Muslims to convert to another religion (US Department of State 2007, International Religious

Freedom Report for 2007 Malaysia, September 14 Attachment 1).

Even laws in Malaysia itself are different among the states and apostasy also not being included

as a crime in states Syaria court. Even, apostasy also not being called as murtad in Malaysia

crime but they only mention as going out from Islam. Furthermore, the hudud law also not

being implemented in Malaysia.

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CONCLUSION

Based on the information and data that we have got and presented it in form of this report, we

can conclude that the rules of Muslim in encountering apostasy in Malaysia are not been taking

so seriously. There is still some lacks especially in Malaysian laws in term to overcome this

issue. These lacks can be seen in:

a) Procedure to changed the religious statusOnce again, the term of murtad or apostasy doesnt being used. In term of procedure,

requesting to change religious involve two party which are Mahkamah Syariah and

Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara and there is no uniformity procedure among the states.

b) The offenses of apostasy and its punishmentAs we know, the punishment of people who murtad or apostasy according to Islam is

hudud. However, hudud doesnt being done in Malaysia and the offenses be ordered to

attend counseling class only.

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REFERENCES

1. Kedudukan Murtad Menurut Perspektif Undang-Undang di Malaysia, Zulkifli Hasan &Norfadhilah Mohd Ali,Faculty Shariah and Laws, Univesiti Sains Islam Malaysia.

2. Refugee Review Tribunal, Australia.3. http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/index.php?page=showfatwa&Option=FatwaI

d&Id=92447