Malaysia: Court denies woman’s appeal to leave Islam
A civil court has denied a woman’s appeal to renounce Islam in favour of Christianity, highlighting the jurisdictional disputes in Malaysia’s dual legal system.
Lim Yoke Khoon had filed a suit in her original ethnic Chinese name to renounce Islam and embrace Christianity. In a 2-1 majority ruling on 5 August, the Shah Alam Court of Appeal denied her case on a technicality, reports Compass Direct News.
According to judges Tengku Baharudin Shah Tengku Mahmud and Sulong Mat Jeraie, Lim had ceased to exist under her original name when she converted to Islam and assumed a new name, Noorashikin Lim binti Abdullah.
The 35-year-old Lim is reportedly expected to appeal to the country’s top civil court. A public forum to discuss such jurisdictional disputes, in this case the dual court system’s effect on families of people who convert to Islam, was scheduled for Saturday 9 August, but Muslim protestors succeeded in halting it after only one hour.
