In late 1997 a Malay-Muslim woman bank executive, who decided to marry her Catholic boyfriend and then renounced her faith and converted to Christianity, was kidnapped by her family (FEER 5 Feb. 1998; IPS16 Feb. 1998). She was held by her family for forty days before escaping and going into hiding and then filing an affidavit with the High Court (ibid.; FEER 5 Feb. 1998). While noting that ethnically-mixed marriages "are fairly common" in Malaysia the Far Eastern Economic Review reported:

Her decision has outraged Muslims, who regard it as the breach of an unwritten covenant that has helped to maintain racial peace in this multiracial country: Non-Muslims cannot proselytize Muslims. More ominously, the affair is turning into a national incident that threatens to galvanize anger among the majority-Muslim population at a time when the worst economic downturn in years is breeding fears of social unrest.

Although Malaysia's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, that provision is generally understood to exclude the Malays, all of whom are Muslim. Muslim family life is governed by Islamic law which, if strictly followed as in Iran, would mandate stoning to death as punishment for apostasy. "Constitution or not, Islam is a one-way street," insists an educated Muslim professional. Nur'aishah's conversion "cannot be accepted," he says. Meanwhile, there's confusion over whether the High Court has jurisdiction over cases of apostasy.

While no English-language newspaper has touched the story, at least one Malay daily has given it widespread publicity. That's worrying for the non-Malays who fear a backlash from infuriated Muslims. "This kind of thing can inflame a community," warns Rahim Nor, the Inspector-General of Police, calling for caution. "We don't want any untoward incidents."

Given the delicacy of the matter, no non-Muslim group or opposition part has commented on the affair publicly. Some Muslim groups, however, have called for changes in the law that would prevent other Nur'aishahs. Harakah, a paper published by PAS, the Islamic opposition party, has even called for apostates to be arrested under the Internal Security Act, which permits detention without trial.

Nur'aishah couldn't have picked a worse time to renounce her faith for love. The expectation of large-scale lay-offs and increased hardship in the coming months has bred a mood of economic gloom - fertile ground for intolerance. ...

Nur'aishah's affidavit included a 20-page handwritten letter relating that her family could not accept her conversion, so she sought refuge in Lee's [her husband] family home. Attempts by the family to coax her home failed.

On November 20, the letter goes, she was asked to meet her family at the office of her lawyer, Leonard Teoh. She maintains that her family took her forcibly from his office back to her home in Pontian in southern Johor state. In the letter, Nur'aishah alleges that the police helped her family; she states that her uncle is a high-ranking police officer.

On December 30, Nur'aishah escaped from her family home with Lee and, according to her affidavit, they are "now in hiding." Her family then filed a police report alleging that she had been kidnapped. On January 13, Teoh was remanded on suspicion of "abetment of kidnap." He has since been released and no charges have been filed against him.

The couple are believed to be in Singapore. Indeed, it is unlikely they will ever be able to live in Malaysia again (ibid.).

Many of these details are corroborated by the IPS report, but it adds that "the opposition Islamic Party plastered 100,000 posters all over the country, urging Muslims to trace her and bring her back to Islam" (16 Feb. 1998).

"Legally, she (Nor Aishah) has the right (to convert)," said author Dr. Ariffin Omar, who has researched and written on Islamic deviant groups. "But socially she will be ostracized." ...

Ariffin says Nor Aishah is not the first Muslim to convert and marry a non-Muslim, pointing to other similar cases in the past in which couples were also harassed. ...

The official definition of a Malay, among other things, is someone who practices the Islamic faith. Not surprisingly, all Malays in the country are deemed to be Muslim.

This means that Muslims who convert to non-Muslim religions not only renounce their faith, but also effectively lose their ethnic identities as Malays in the eyes of the larger community. Observed Ariffin: "They must be prepared to face the full weight of social disapproval." ...

Some have even gone as far as advocating the death penalty for apostasy. Malaysian laws on apostasy, however, are unclear.

"At the least, the absence of clear-cut laws would be a source of friction between Muslim and non-Muslim communities," columnist Ahmad Faiz Abdul Rahman, of the Institute of Islamic Understanding, wrote in a national daily recently.

Social barriers may also lie ahead for those intending to marry persons of a different ethnic background or religion. Conservative parents, Muslim and non-Muslim, may balk and try their best to discourage their offspring from marrying "outsiders." ...

Social reformer Mustafa, an ethnic Malay, says marrying his Punjabi Malaysian wife "wasn't easy initially." He added: "Coming from different ethnic backgrounds, it was a problem for our families."

The situation is different in other parts of Malaysia, however. In Sabah in eastern Malaysia, for instance, which has a different history from the peninsula, different ethnic groups and creeds can be found in many households.

Ariffin says ethnic barriers will fall further in the coming years, requiring Malaysians to cope with the issue. "Society will soon have to resolve the issue (of Muslims marrying non-Muslims) as women become more and more aware of their rights and freedoms and of their inherent worth as human beings -- ironically as a result of wider access to western education and increasing secularization," he said (ibid.).

The Research Directorate was unable to find any further information on this case. However, the Annual Report on International Religious Freedom for 1999 states:

Adherence to Islam is considered intrinsic to Malay ethnic identity, and therefore Islamic religious laws administered by state authorities through Islamic courts bind all ethnic Malays in some matters. For Muslims, particularly ethnic Malays, the right to leave the Islamic faith and adhere to another religion is a controversial question, and in practice it is very difficult for Muslims to change religions. Persons who wish to do so face severe obstacles.

The issue of Muslim "apostasy" became very controversial in 1998. There were proposals inside and outside of the Government for various punishments for "apostates." In August 1998, the Government stated that apostates would not face government punishment so long as they did not defame Islam after their conversion (9 Sept. 1999).

No information on whether persons who convert from Christianity to Islam and back to Christianity would need to be re-baptized could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Annual Report on International Religious Freedom for 1999. United States Department of State. 9 September 1999. http://www.state.gov/www/global/ [Accessed 22 Mar. 2000]

Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) [Hong Kong]. 5 February 1998. Vol. 161, No. 6. S. Jayasankaran. "Malaysia: Forbidden Love."

Inter Press Service (IPS). 16 February 1998. Anil Netto. "Religion - Malaysia: Conversion from Islam Upsets Muslims." (NEXIS)

Asian Survey [Berkeley]. January 1998 - August 1999.

Asiaweek [Hong Kong]. November 1999 - March 2000.

Far Eastern Economic Review [Hong Kong]. February - July 1998, January - March 2000.

IRB databases

LEXIS-NEXIS

REFWORLD

Resource Centre. Malaysia country file. April 1998 - March 2000.

World News Connection (WNC)

Unsuccessful attempts to contact 8 non-documentary sources