All in the name of God

Not many of us feel the pinch of the restrictive nature of our Malaysian law. Yes we hear about cases, and we sympathies with our fellow citizens that make it to the wall of disastrous fame due to some conflict with the law, and we are passionate about fighting for our rights and the rights of our people…. But it pretty much ends there unless you personally know someone who is a victim of our highly biased, discriminating and flawed law. Then we start to take notice of how personal the law can be, how it can affect all of our lives- even those who pay their tax on time, stand up straight to the NegaraKu and cast their ballads when they are summoned.

I want to talk about an issue that has somehow become rather personal to me over the past few months. We all know that converting into Islam in our country is a one way road. Even though the Quran had quoted “Let there be no compulsion in religion, no one can be compelled to embrace Islam”, but somehow our Syariah court had decided to overrule the teachings of the Quran in their strive towards religious domination. All in the name of God.

Under our Syariah court, marriage between a non-Muslim and a Muslim is forbidden. Conversion by one party in a marriage is not allowed unless both parties has agreed to convert into the religion. It’s surprising how our law can be courageously flexible when It comes to cases that benefit their side of the court. There have been cases in Malaysia where parents who are seeking custody of their children convert into Islam so that they would have the upper hand in the custody battle.

Cases such as these can not fully fall under out civil court because the newly convert is now subjected towards the Syariah court. Even though these Islamic laws are discriminatory towards the non-Muslims, we all know that the Syariah court and civil court can not interfere with each others jurisdiction and the Syariah court will eventually prevail above all. Not only do the newly converted parent receive full custody of the child, the non-Muslim parent will also loose all visitation rights towards his or her child.
Parents ripped apart from their flesh and blood and children crying for their parents love, all in the name of God.

For every battle that is heard, I’m sure there are hundreds of people out there that are struggling to get their voices heard. But they will step on you when you stand up, and they will kick your feet when you try to walk, and they will cage you up when you have the strength to fight.