By : BOB TEOH
BUMIPUTRA Christians in
Sabah continue to be 'converted to Islam' by the National Registration
Department (NRD) simply because they have 'bin' and 'binti' in their names.
Sabah churches are seeking urgent solutions to the crisis but none seems to be
in sight.
The NRD has made it clear it
would continue to list bumiputra Christians in Sabah as Muslims as long as they
are known by bin or binti. It would also not rectify past entry errors by way
of changing the religion listing back to Christianity in the identity cards
(MyKad) of those affected.
The NRD would only act upon
an order by a Syariah High Court to determine whether those bumiputra
Christians whom it had listed as Muslims are not Muslims indeed.
Even if these native
Christians get a hearing from the Syariah Court, both the NRD and Islamic
authorities may not turn up, thus causing unnecessary delays.
A current test case has been
mounted by a 53 year-old widow and her two adult daughters and supported by the
respective local churches. All three are from the Dusun Banggi tribe.
Intim binti Lambatan, was
born in 1959 in Banggi, the northernmost island in Sabah. Her husband died 20
years ago. She was officially baptised in her church, the Sidang Injil Borneo
(SIB) in Limbuak Darat, in Kudat on mainland Sabah seven years ago and issued a
Baptism Certificate.
The SIB is the biggest
indigenous protestant church in Sabah. Her elder daughter, Norina binti
Nuhudan,28, was baptised when she was 15 while her younger daughter, Listin
Nuhudan, 22, was baptised when she was 14. Both are also SIB members.
When all three had their
religion wrongly classified as 'Islam' in their MyKad, they brought the matter
up to their pastors. A Christian lawyer from another SIB church in Kota
Kinabalu agreed to take up their case but the lawyer had to engage a Muslim
counsel to act on their behalf in the Syariah High Court.
In March last year a
Christian lawyer, Victoria Jayaseele Martin, was barred from practising in a
Syariah court despite having a Diploma in Syariah Law and Practice from the
International Islamic University Malaysia, in addition to a University of
London law degree.
The test case was initiated
several months ago when Intim went to the Kudat office of the Jabatan Hal Ehwal
Agama Islam Negeri Sabah (JHEAINS) or the Sabah Islamic Affairs Department, to
clarify the status of her religion.
On 25 July, the department
wrote to the Syariah Court in Kudat to say that Intim's name is not on record
in their Pendaftaran Pengislaman (Islamisation Register).
With JHEAINS's
clarification, she made a statutory declaration at the Kudat Magistrate Court
stating that she is not a Muslim and that her name is not on the Islamic
department's register. She said she was not originally a Muslim but when she
applied for her identity card, the word 'Islam' was wrongly recorded on it.
But still the NRD would not
rectify its error and issue her a new identity card with her correct status as
a Christian. It looks like it is Intim's responsibility to first go to the
Kudat Syariah High Court for a declaration that she is not a Muslim.
This she did by filing a
case against the Ketua Pendaftar Muallaf (Chief Registrar of New Believers) of
Sabah on 14 August. The Director General of the NRD was cited as the second
respondent. She is asking for her status as a Muslim to be deleted from her
identity card.
The Kudat Syariah High Court
then wrote back to the Islamic Department to investigate further whether Intim
is a Muslim on their register. The mention date was twice postponed to last
Monday (28 Oct). But both the respondents did not turn up, thus causing more
delays.
The problem has long reached
a crisis in Sabah when SIB churches could not marry their members as some are
found to be 'Muslims' in their MyKad and the Registrar of Marriages would not
recognise such marriages.
Two years ago, the National
Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF), of which SIB is a member, met the NRD
Director General and his senior officers. NECF was assured that the problem
could easily be resolved be those affected filing in what it called a 'Borang A'
to change the status of their religion.
The NECF was happy with that
assurance and posted an advisory on its website: "Fuss-free way to change
religion data in MyKad."
"Christians who wish to
change their religion to Christianity in their MyKad data are not required to
tender any legal documents, such as baptism certificates. They only need to
fill in 'Borang A' to effect the change," NECF then said.
"This was confirmed at
a recent meeting between NECF Malaysia and top officials from the National
Registration Department (NRD)."
But NECF itself pointed out
the catch. "This is not applicable if they had been registered as
Muslims."
NECF said, at the meeting
with NRD officials, it also raised the issue of East Malaysian Christians whose
religion in their MyKad is recorded as 'Islam' simply because their names carry
'bin' and 'binti'.
"This is a prevailing
problem in Sabah and Sarawak where many indigenous citizens have names that
carry bin and binti". The NRD automatically assigns their religion as
‘Islam' even though many of them are Christians," according to NECF.
NECF also said the NRD
confirmed that those who are affected could change the data in their MyKad
provided they had obtained clearance from the Syariah Court.
It looks like NECF had
bought a dud – the Borang A assurance by the NRD is just a ruse to continue its
'Islamisation' by deception in Sabah. (Sin Chew Daily)
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