KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA is reviewing its laws related to religious conversion after a recent run of legal battles over freedom of worship inflamed tensions in the mainly Muslim nation, a minister has said.
Malaysian courts have declined to recognise conversions involving Muslims, referring them to the country's separate Islamic legal system, the Syariah Court, which ordinarily does not permit Muslims to renounce their faith under law.
'The Attorney-General's Chambers is studying the matter,' Malaysia's de facto justice minister Nazri Abdul Aziz told Parliament on Monday.
The Attorney-General had formed a special committee, including non-governmental organisations, academics and religious bodies, to look into the issue, he said.
'A few meetings were also conducted to discuss possible amendments to the laws related to conversion,' he said.
Datuk Seri Nazri said the committee had been set up following Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's statement in January that there was no need to amend the federal Constitution as there was no conflict between civil and Syariah courts.
'As sensitive matters are involved, the committee needs time to study all aspects before making recommendations to the Cabinet,' the minister was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.
The recent legal battles have usually involved couples where one partner is Muslim and the other is not. In Malaysia, Muslims cannot marry non-Muslims and it can be almost impossible to legally leave Islam despite a constitutional right to freedom of worship.
The rulings have angered many non-Muslims, who believe their constitutional rights are being eroded.
However, their attempts to voice concern in public have met with a backlash from Muslims who feel that conversions threaten Islam.
The ruling coalition government is made up of parties representing Malaysia's main races and religions, but the refusal of civil courts to deal with conversions has upset the coalition's junior members, who represent mostly non-Muslim communities.
Datuk Seri Nazri told Parliament that there was no need to meddle with the jurisdictions of civil and Islamic courts because there was no conflict.
The review, he added, would look instead at how to determine a person's religion.
'It is an ongoing process. It is also a sensitive issue and, God willing, a method can be achieved on how to decide on the religion of a person,' the state news agency Bernama quoted him as saying.
