NOV 5 — Bumiputera 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 Bumiputera
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 Bumiputera 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 community.
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,
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 July 25, the department wrote to the syariah court in Kudat to say
that Intim’s name is not on record in its Pendaftaran Pengislaman
(Islamisation Register).
With JHEAINS’s clarification, she made a statutory declaration at the
Kudat magistrate’s 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 Pendafter Muallaf
(Chief Registrar of New Believers) of Sabah on August 14. 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 its
register. The mention date was twice postponed to last Monday (Oct 28).
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. The NECF was given an assurance that the problem could easily
be resolved by those affected filing 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,” the NECF then said.
“This was confirmed at a recent meeting between NECF Malaysia and top
officials from the National Registration Department (NRD).”
But the NECF itself pointed out the catch. “This is not applicable if they had been registered as Muslims.”
The 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 the NECF.
The 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 the NECF had bought a dud — the Borang A assurance by
the NRD is just a ruse to continue its “Islamisation” by deception in
Sabah. — mysinchew.com
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