ROSLIZA Ibrahim, born to a Muslim father and a Buddhist mother, today succeeded in obtaining a Federal Court ruling that she was never a Muslim.

The nine-judge panel chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat ruled unanimously in favour of Rosliza‘s appeal that she was never a Muslim from birth.

Rosliza was born out of wedlock in Selangor to a Muslim father and a Buddhist mother, and was never raised as a Muslim.

The judges ruled there was nothing to prove on record the 39-year-old woman having practised Islam during her lifetime, having been raised a Buddhist by her mother Yap Ah Mooi from birth.

Rosliza had taken her case to the Federal Court, having previously failed at the high court and Court of Appeal.

The panel today included Chief Judge of Malaya Azahar Mohamed; Court of Appeal president Rohana Yusuf; and Federal Court judges Mary Lim, P. Nallini, Abdul Rahman Sebli, Zabariah Mohd Yusof, Hasnah Mohamad Hashim and Rhodzariah Bujang.

The panel ruled by a seven-to-two majority that Rosliza was illegitimate, not a person professing the religion of Islam, and Selangor state Muslim and Shariah laws do not apply on her.

Despite allowing the appeal, Azahar and Hasnah did not agree to grant the rulings Rosliza sought.

Rosliza’s predicament first started when the National Registration Department (NRD) rejected her application to change her name because she did not have a Shariah Court approval letter.

She took the matter to the High Court in Shah Alam court in 2015, stating she was not a Muslim and Selangor state Islamic laws did not apply to her, but the court ruled against her in 2017.

In 2018, the Court of Appeal dismissed her appeal, ruling there was no proof her parents had not consummated a Muslim marriage.

The case went to the Federal Court in January.

Meanwhile, an interfaith group said the journey of Rosliza and her late mother in establishing her true identity as Chinese Buddhist found a just resolution today with the apex court ruling.

Lawyer Philip Koh – who held a watching brief for Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism & Taoism – said that Tengku Maimum had distinguished Rosliza’s case as one where a person never professed the Islamic religion, as opposed to a situation where a person is a Muslim seeking to renounce.

“Her ladyship affirms that the high court and not the shariah court has jurisdiction in such cases involving construction of Federal Constitution and secular civil laws,” he said in a statement. – February 5, 2021.