My Muslim dad doesn’t object to me being Buddhist - teen

 

A 17-year-old Sabah-born teen now residing in Sarawak contended that his Muslim father has no objections to him being a Buddhist.

Set to turn 18 next month, the boy made the declaration in his affidavit to support his Buddhist mother’s legal challenge against the National Registration Department’s (NRD) alleged delay in changing his religious status on his MyKad.

“I was born on Oct 18, 2005. I understand my parents are divorced,” he said, explaining that he had just completed his schooling at a Chinese vernacular school in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

“I am a Buddhist. During my schooling years, I have not taken any Islamic religious classes. I have not practised Islam in my life,” he said, stating that his friends knew him by his Chinese name.

“I have never professed or practised any other religion in my life. My father has not objected to me being a Buddhist. I want to be identified as a non-Muslim,” the teen boy emphasised in the affidavit affirmed on Aug 9 and sighted by Malaysiakini.

Last month before the Kuching High Court, the teen’s 52-year-old mother filed the originating summons against the Malaysian Births, Deaths and Adoptions director; the Sarawak Regional Registrar of Births and Deaths; the Identity Card Division director; the NRD director-general; NRD; and the federal government, as the first to sixth defendants.

Sole care

The mother is seeking a declaration that she has the right to determine the religion and upbringing of her teen son, who at present has a Muslim name on his MyKad.

The plaintiff seeks a civil court order to compel the first, second and third defendants to record changes in her son’s MyKad in relation to religion.

According to her affidavit in support, she and her then-husband had married under Sabah’s Islamic Family Law Enactment 1992 on Aug 3, 1999, with their son being born later on Aug 18, 2005.

Reiterating that she was a practising Buddhist at the time, she said the couple divorced on Jan 27, 2010, pursuant to the Federal Territory’s Islamic Family Law Act 1984.

She said that she obtained sole care and custody of their son, who was raised as a Buddhist since birth, and that her former husband, who is a Muslim, has since remarried and now has a separate family of his own.

More forms

The mother, however, claimed that problems began on July 5 this year when she and her lawyers applied to the Sarawak NRD to change the details in her son’s identity card registers.

The applicant claimed that a woman personnel at the state government department’s counter refused to accept the application and that the latter gave a separate set of forms for the former to fill up.

The mother claimed that she had then submitted the application again on July 18 with supporting documents from her former husband as well as their son, which was accepted by the department.

She alleged that following her lawyers’ letter to the state NRD, the department replied via a letter dated July 31 that neither granted nor rejected the application and that it had instead asked her to fill out even more forms.

The mother pointed out that the forms are repetitive as they are in essence identical - especially the second and third forms - save for the provisions of the relevant ordinance.

She contended that as a Malaysian citizen, she is entitled to correct the details on her son’s identity card in the relevant register in any part of the country.

“The father has not objected to the child’s religious upbringing. He is also supportive of our application to amend the details of the child’s birth register and identity card.

“The child has never attended a religious class in school. He has not practised or professed the religion of Islam at all material times,” she contended.

Paramount consideration

The mother claimed that her son is known to his friends, family, teachers and community by his Chinese name and that she and her son attend a Buddhist society in Kuching.

“As the parent having sole custody and care of the child, it is my right to determine the child’s education and religious upbringing.

“The child’s best interest is to be given paramount consideration.

“The department should not maintain details on the record which are contradictory to the child’s upbringing,” the mother emphasised in the affidavit dated Aug 9 and filed by Kuching-based law firm, Messrs Baru Bian Advocates and Solicitors.

The Kuching High Court is set to hear the legal challenge on Monday next week.

Malaysiakini is attempting to reach out to the defendants’ legal representatives over the matter. - Mkini