KAUAL LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, July 11, 2007: Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said religious authorities should give a patient hearing to those who wanted to leave Islam. His comments came days after an ethnic Indian woman accused Islamic religious police of mental torture during six-month detention for renouncing Islam in favor of Hinduism. M. Revathi, an ethnic Indian, was detained for religious counseling in an Islamic rehabilitation centre for six months since January. “I have always told our religious authorities that they should be ready to listen to these grouses and solve the problems,” Badawi told reporters Monday after opening the 18th conference of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy here.
He called on Muslim scholars to be innovative, The New Straits Times reported. “It is always easier to take the path of least resistance, to simply say ‘no’, but in doing so, we may be robbed of the opportunity for progress. Instead, Muslim scholars must have the courage to study and contemplate the great issues of the day with wisdom and sincerity,” Badawi said.
Revathi was born to an Indian Hindu family, which converted to Islam before she was born. Though Revathi was given a Muslim name – Siti Fatimah – she claimed she was raised as a Hindu by her grandmother and had changed her name in 2001. Revathi married Suresh Veerappan, a Hindu, in 2004 according to Hindu rites. The Sharia court, however, did not register their marriage because Suresh would have had to convert to Islam first. The couple, who have a baby, protested the move. In January, Revathi was taken to a rehabilitation centre in central Malaysia and was released just last week. Revathi’s official documents say she is a Muslim because Malaysians who are born as Muslims cannot legally convert.
Ethnic Indians form about eight percent of Malaysia’s 26 million population and a majority of them are Hindus. Some are Christians, Muslims and Sikhs. Activists say an increasing number of similar cases have strained ethnic relations in this multicultural nation that has enjoyed racial peace for years.