Kudos to the Penang Syariah High Court's decision allowing convert Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah aka Tan Ean Huang, 39, to renounce Islam and revert to her original faith, Buddhism. I am sure that Tan converted out of love for her ex-husband, an Iranian. She may have made the wrong decison for unfortunately she was left on the perch after he left her a few months of their marriage. In other words the Islamic faith was never instilled in her.
This decision is indeed in line with Article 11 (1) of the Federal Constitution guaranteeing freedom of religion. Surely there are more out there like Tan. Tan has been very bold to be standing that long to fight for her rights. May I also question about Lina Joy? Seems that all of a sudden news about her had come to a halt. I am still interested to know what the out come of her case is. It should not be kept away from people who had been concerned about Lina Joy and would be good if we were given updates on her case.. Hopefully we will not be kept in the dark.
It is only fair that a person who had never practised the faith of his or her religion be given the jurisdiction to renounce. Don't you think that it is rather ridiculous to force someone into a religion which she or he doesn't believe? Yet The Star dated 10th May 2008 reported that Deputy Chief Minister 1 Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin stated that he hoped to seek audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agung to prevent such matter from recurring. Does this mean that future cases will not be given such chance to revert? Does it mean that Tan's case will be the first and the last? Well, in my personal opinion, people do change their mind from time to time and many too do change their religions. Hence it is only fair that the government be open minded and allow individuals to choose.
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