COMMENT It is good that National Registration Department (NRD) director-general Sulaiman Keling has agreed yesterday to withdraw its appeal against the Kuching High Court decision on Rooney anak Rebit’s case.

The circumstances of the case are well-known, and even both Jabatan Agama Islam Sarawak and Majlis Agama Islam Sarawak did not express any objection to Rooney’s application for his identity card to be corrected.

NRD, which has no jurisdiction over one’s religious affiliation, saw it fit to object and insist that Rooney obtain a letter of release from the Syariah Court.

According to sources, the Syariah Court held that it has no powers to give such a letter; thus Rooney was placed in an impossible situation.

No case at all

In my opinion, this case should not even have gone to court, and was a sheer waste of the court’s time and resources, had NRD accepted from the beginning that Rooney was never a practising Muslim in the first place.

According to sources that are close to the case, Roney “grew up in a Christian village and was baptised on Sept 4, 1999.”

Although his parents were converted into Islam while working in Kuala Lumpur, Rooney was raised by his grandparents in the village. He had never been a practicing Muslim at any point in his life, but had been faithfully attending Sunday School since he was a young boy.

The now 41-year-old Dayak Bidayuh Christian man’s identity card still carried the name Azmi bin Mohd Azam and Rooney had merely wanted it to be corrected.

It is obvious that NRD had erred in its judgment by pushing through the case to the appellate court, especially since Rooney’s lawyer would have laid out all the facts in court. Now, after some light has been shone on the case, NRD is forced to withdraw the case.

It is not a question of who wins and who loses, but a matter of individual’s choice and preference of religion, which is why even fair-minded Muslims would agree, especially since there is an increasing concern over the encroachment into personal liberties.

The argument put forward by Perkasa information chief Hassan Basri Muhammad is baseless and does not hold water, since the issue was raised not because of the Sarawak state elections, but to protect individual rights to practice one’s religion.

With or without the election fever, such a matter would have been raised anyway. Hassan has also erred in that he accused Rooney of being an “apostate” because on record Rooney has never been a practicing Muslim in the first place.

NRD would do injustice to the Muslim community if Azmi turned up in the mosque one day by invitation, and not participate in the rituals because he claims to be a Christian by faith. Would Rooney be accused of being a Trojan horse then?

This would surely confuse more Muslims, just because they are Muslims on the identity card but Christians at heart. We have been given the impression that a lot of Muslims have very weak faith, and would Perkasa for example not be concerned that the weaker Muslims could be easily influenced by a Christian with a Muslim name?

A change of identity card would be the right thing to do, and based on the facts of the case, the Kuching High Court Judge Yew Jen Kie had ruled that “Rooney anak Rebit’s conversion to Islam as a minor was not of his own volition and he had the constitutional right to exercise his freedom of religion”.

NRD should already know the circumstances involved in Rooney’s case. Why did it take them until now to say that they have reviewed the case and decide to withdraw it? I find this hard to understand. If not because of the Sarawak elections would Adenan Satem, Najib Abdul Razak or Sulaiman have listened to the people?

Sarawakians have spoken up

For this reason, Daron Tan, chairperson of Kuching Ministers’ Fellowship, which represents a number of Christian leaders throughout the state of Sarawak, says in a press statement that the decision by NRD to appeal against the High Court decision in favour of Rooney “makes a mockery of the constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion”.

“Here we have a situation where an administrative arm of the federal government in the shape and form of the NRD can summarily abrogate a constitutional right,” he said. “This is both illegal and goes against the spirit and letter of the law and undermines the right to freedom of religion in Sarawak from before Malaysia Day, Sept 16, 1963.”

The federal constitution in fact protects rights of the citizens of this country to practice their own religion, without the interference of other parties.

The usually soft-spoken Tan added that the Christian community has to stand up behind every other case where freedom of religion is involved, which he claims “has been infringed by the administration”. Rooney anak Rebit is just one of many cases.

“The record for religious freedom in the last 53 years has not been commendable and we are praying that Adenan Satem’s decision to stand up for Rooney anak Rebit is not just an election campaign gesture,” he added.

“Christians want a long-term assurance that their historical right to freedom of religion will be respected and be assured that there will be no further interference in their practice, preaching and propagation of their faith. This is best achieved by making structural changes to administrative rules and procedures including the ones enforced by NRD in preventing Rooney anak Rebit returning to Christianity.”

“This,” Tan says, “is a step in the right direction.” There is still a lot to be done even after Adenan wins the election, because all Malaysians are watching how both the state and the federal governments conduct themselves.

Christians are generally amiable until their rights are being infringed. After all, who would not?

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.