[UPDATED] Court rejects judicial review bid of woman seeking to renounce Islam

KUALA LUMPUR – A Malaysian woman’s bid to renounce Islam to embrace Confucianism and Buddhism via the legal process was stunted after the high court here threw out her application for leave for judicial review. 

The decision was delivered by judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid via an email sent by the court interpreter at 3.28pm today. 

Lawyer Fahri Azzat, who is representing the woman in the case, said following a short submission by email, the judge also ordered the applicant to pay costs of RM2,000. 

No reason was given by the judge for the dismissal of the application. 

“We informed the applicant immediately after the decision. She instructed us to appeal against the decision,” Fahri told The Vibes today. 

“We filed an appeal against the decision at 4.49pm. We will effect service of the appeal notice tomorrow.”

The case first came to light on April 14 after the 32-year-old woman filed a civil suit against the federal government and religious authorities in her bid to no longer be declared Muslim in order to allow for her conversion.

Speaking to The Vibes then, Fahri had said that the case would serve as a test for establishing freedom of religion for Muslims in Malaysia, where apostasy is not recognised and considered a crime.

Drawing comparisons to previous attempts by other Malaysians to legally leave Islam, Fahri had said his client’s case is different as she had already exhausted all avenues via the shariah court system, albeit to no avail.

In her application for judicial review at the high court, the woman admitted to never practising Islam as neither of her divorced Muslim parents did so.

She claimed that her parents had given her free reign to determine her own faith, and that she hopes to attain nirvana through Confucianism and Buddhism.

The woman said in her affidavit that she routinely consumes food and beverages considered “haram” such as pork and alcoholic drinks.

She said after applying to leave Islam at the shariah court in August 2018, she was ordered to attend 12 faith counselling sessions from January to June the following year, pending her trial.

Despite her mother and a close friend presenting oral evidence of her Buddhist faith before the shariah court, her application was dismissed in July 2020, before she was subsequently ordered to attend further counselling sessions.

Her case was dismissed by the shariah court on the grounds that Article 11 of the federal constitution, which provides for freedom of religion, does not apply to Muslims, and that her failure to adhere to Islamic principles was a matter of “dosa dan pahala”, or sin and reward, which does not negate her faith. – The Vibes, June 15, 2022