AG files appeal on Bidayuh ‘leaving’ Islam

KUALA LUMPUR: The Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) has filed an appeal against the recent High Court decision allowing a Bidayuh man to renounce Islam and have the change reflected in his registration records.

Roneey Rebit, 41, was successful in renouncing Islam in Court last month to legally return to Christianity. He obtained a court order to compel the National Registration Department (NRD) to have the change reflected in his identity card and records.

The AGC has confirmed the appeal was filed last Friday. “It’s true. We have filed an appeal,” said an AGC spokesman.

Justice Yew Jen Kie of the Kuching High Court allowed Roneey, formerly Azmi Mohamad Azam Shah who was converted to Islam when he was 10 years old, to become Christian again.

Roneey had applied for a judicial review to obtain recognition that he’s Christian, and an order of mandamus to compel the Sarawak Islamic Religious Department and the Sarawak Islamic Council to issue a letter signifying Roneey’s “release” from Islam.

Yew also ordered the NRD to change Azmi’s name and religion on his identity card to reflect his restored status.

The state religious authorities had no objections to issuing the letter but the NRD insisted on a letter of release and order from the Syariah Court.

Yew, in the judgement, noted that Roneey was born into a Bidayuh Christian family in 1975 but his parents converted to Islam.

She said Roneey’s conversion to Islam was not of his own free will but by virtue of his parents’ conversion as he was then a minor, and that now, as he was no longer a minor, he was free to exercise his right to freedom of worship.

The Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS) applauded the decision as one which safeguarded the fundamental constitutional right to freedom of religion.