KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 — The Association of Churches, Sarawak (ACS) welcomed Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem’s announcement today that the National Registration Department (NRD) is withdrawing its court appeal against a Dayak Bidayuh man who reverted to Christianity from Islam.
Its secretary-general Ambrose Linang however panned the NRD’s initial decision last month to pursue the case against Roneey Rebit to the Court of Appeal.
“There really is no need for NRD to file appeal in the first place because any such appeal is seen as interfering in the religious freedom of Sarawakians,” Linang told Malay Mail Online when contacted.
He said as far as he knows Roneey’s case is the first to be taken to court after the NRD refused to process his application.
He hoped the NRD will, from now, process any application from Muslim converts who seek to revert to their previous religions.
“NRD should not make it difficult for the Muslim converts to go back to their old religions,” Linang said.
He also expressed his gratitude to Adenan for the latter’s concern in Roneey’s case.
He added that he did not think the announcement today was related to the current campaigning for the May 7 state election.
“I must thank the chief minister for his concern over Roneey’s case and I do not, for one moment, believe that the assurance to withdraw the appeal has anything to do with the Sarawak elections.
“It is just co-incidental and there were cases in the past where the chief minister made on the spot-the-decisions on matters affecting the people,” Linang said.
Roneey’s case made national headlines earlier this year after the Sarawak High Court made a landmark judgment allowing the now 41-year-old to revert to his childhood creed and ordered the NRD to issue him a new MyKad.
The Sarawakian was converted to Islam at age eight by his Christian-turned-Muslim parents.
Rooney could not be reached for comment. His lawyer Chua Kuan Ching said she welcomed the chief minister’s initiative.
However, she also urged both the state and federal governments to provide an assurance that the NRD will not seek to meddle in future applications by others caught in a similar bind to Roneey, especially if the Islamic authorities involved did not object.
“This cannot be a one-off case only,” Chua said.
Sarawak has one of the highest Christian populations in the country, numbering roughly 1.05 million or 42.61 per cent of the total state population, based on the last census in 2010.
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