Retarded Muslim in Malaysia getting out of hand

A 14-year-old schoolboy has alleged that he was locked up in a room in an Islamic missionary centre in Negri Sembilan for more than three hours.

S Thiyaggurudeen said he was locked up before being forced by two of his teachers to lodge a police report against his Hindu father, who is trying to change the boy's religion from Islam to Hindu.

The boy, who goes to a school near Port Dickson said two Muslim teachers took him out of the school on Feb 13 and made him drink some 'air penawar' before forcing him to sign the police report blindly.

He was forced to sign the police report against his father at the Lukut police station, the boy said.

In Malay traditions, 'air penawar' commonly refers to water which is prayed over giving it healing properties.

He related this in a police report he lodged on Feb 17 on the incident, sent to Malaysiakini by PKR leader S Jayathas.

The boy said he was taken to the missionary centre where he was grilled for more than three hours by a group who claimed to be Islamic affairs department officers.

He was eventually rescued by his father who managed to track down the boy's whereabouts.

The teenager is still listed as a Muslim on his MyKad identity card although his father is a Hindu and his mother an Indonesian Muslim.

His father, S Ganesan, had applied to the Syariah Court to change his son's religion but was told he needed to wait until the boy is 18 years of age to obtain his consent.

Hindu, Muslim, back to Hindu

Ganesan said the police report the two teachers forced his son to sign alleged that Ganesan had been physically abusing the boy since 2012 to ensure the boy left Islam.

"Until now, I have not received an explanation from the school as to why the teachers acted in such a manner," an unhappy Ganesan told Malaysiakini.

Ganesan himself was once Muslim. He converted to Islam when he married a Muslim woman in 1982 but was successful with his apostasy application in 1987 along with his wife and three kids.

His second wife, an Indonesian Muslim, left for Indonesia with the couple's second child after divorcing him.

Thiyaggurudeen is the eldest child from Ganesan's second marriage and has faced problems with his identity card and birth certification ever since.

Ganesan tracked down his son after being tipped off by a security guard at his son's school.

Both the teachers, when confronted, denied any suggestion that they took the boy anywhere, Ganesan said.

Teachers or religious officials?

"About three weeks before the incident, the school had acknowledged my request not to teach my son Islamic Studies after I explained his status and his situation to them," he further said.

Ganesan said he lodged a police report regarding his son's ordeal on the night of Feb 13, while Thiyaggurudeen lodged his own police report at the Seremban police station on Feb 17.

Jayathas said that the teachers had acted in an "improper manner" by bringing the child about without the father's consent.

"There is rule of law in this land. There is no need for teachers to behave like religious officials," he said.