KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 21, 2006): Syariah courts cannot and should not make non-Muslims submit to its jurisdiction and to Islamic theological law, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taosim (MCCBCHST) said.

"The MCCBCHST strongly protests any pressure that is brought to bear on non-Muslims to submit themselves to the syariah court's jurisdiction," secretary general R. Thiagaraja said today in a press conference attended by the heads of non-Muslim religious groups to commemorate the first anniversary Sgt M. Moorthy's passing.

The Hindu family of Everest climber Moorthy was involved in a legal tussle with the Islamic authorities for his body, resulting in his being buried a Muslim. National outcry followed when the civil court told his widow it was unable to hear her case because Moorthy had purportedly converted to Islam.

"We would respectfully remind all parties concerned that under the Federal Constitution, the syariah courts shall only have jurisdiction over persons professing the religion of Islam," Thiagaraja said.

The council noted that since Moorthy's passing, four other similar cases namely, Nyonya Tahir, Kandasamy Sayappu, Chandran Dharmadass and Rayappan Anthony, have occurred.

Thiagaraja said the recent trend was for the religious authorities to ask non-Muslim family members to go to the syariah court to give evidence in order for such courts to determine whether the deceased was a Muslim.

In a Berita Harian commentary yesterday, Syariah Lawyers Association president Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar said the Nyonya Tahir case showed how a Buddhist family which cooperated with the syariah courts was able to achieve a favourable decision.

"This case shows that syariah courts are just and don't only make decisions in favour of Muslims," he argued.

Zainul added that non-Muslims' disrespect of the syariah court, as demonstrated by Rayappan's family which chose to ignore a syariah court subpeona, does not help amicably resolve cases where there is a dispute over a deceased's faith.

However, Thiagaraja said following the introduction of Article 121(1A) to the Federal Constitution, the Federal Court decided that where the parties to a dispute included non-Muslims, the civil court should hear the matter.

"In this connection, the government must therefore do everything possible to facilitate the resolution of such issues through a transparent mechanism which protects the rights of citizens to profess or revert to their religion, especially from Islam, without having to submit themselves to the syariah courts," he said.

He added that the council was willing to assist in resolving such cases through open and transparent dialogue.