A high profile line up has been slated for a public dialogue on the landmark Federal Court ruling rejecting an appeal by Lina Joy who wanted to amend her official religious status.

Organised by DAP, the confirmed speakers at Thursday's event include Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan, Assoc Prof at the Universiti Malaya law faculty Azmi Sharom, Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

Representative from religious groups include Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism legal advisor Leonard Teoh and Muslim Youth Movement (Abim) president Yusri Mohammad.

Yusri is also the head of Pembela - a loose but vocal coalition of Muslim groups formed in response to the increasing public debate surrounding Muslim apostates and the position of Islam in the country.

Pembela was among the groups involved in a gathering of individuals who opposed Lina Joy's - born Muslim as Azlina Jailani - appeal to have the National Registration Department remove the word 'Islam' from her identity card.

Guan Eng said the dialogue, which is open to questions from the floor, would discuss the implications of the court decision.

"This is the first time we have people coming from both sides to come and speak (on this matter)," he said.

PAS not invited

Leaders from the Islamic party PAS were not invited for the dialogue.

According to Guan Eng, the reason for this is that the various hard-lined stances taken by the party on religious matters may detract from the purpose of the dialogue.

He said that the position taken by PAS Youth during it's annual meeting last Thursday that apostasy must be made a criminal offence, was one such example.

"We want to stress that PAS and other Muslim groups must look at the other side. This resolution does not consider the fact that there are non-Muslims who converted and want to leave the religion," he added.

He said there were many cases of non-Muslims who converted to Islam for the sake of marriage but were unable to leave the religion upon divorce or when their spouses die.

Guan Eng said the dialogue was meant to be an open discussion on the impact of the decision on the Lina Joy case and to come out with solutions for other apostasy cases hinging on Joy's case.

"Even if you disagree, lets agree to disagree and find a way out of the human impact and suffering (by other individuals) because of Joy's case," he said.

The event would be held at the Armada Hotel, Petaling Jaya and will begin at 7.30pm.