Mr Moorthy's widow was in tears after Wednesday's ruling
|
BBC Bews
2005/12/29
A Malaysian mountaineering hero will be buried as a Muslim, against
the wishes of his Hindu wife, who denied he had converted to Islam before
his death.
The decision follows a High Court ruling that it cannot override the
country's Islamic courts in matters of religious conversion.
An Islamic court had said the man, M Moorthy, had become a Muslim last
year.
Lawyers say the case highlights problems faced by non-Muslims dealing
with Malaysia's Islamic justice system.
"So much for good interracial relations," Haris Mohamad
Ibrahim, a lawyer representing Malaysia's Bar Council, told The Associated
Press.
"The judge has just told the widow and her family to go back and
leave the body of their beloved to be buried by strangers."
Coma
M Moorthy, 36, was a Hindu when he became a national hero in 1997 as a
member of the first Malaysian expedition to conquer Mount Everest.
But when he died a week ago family supporters and state Islamic
officials jostled one another at the mortuary as each tried to claim his
body.
An Islamic Sharia court subsequently upheld a claim by his former
colleagues in the army that he had become a Muslim last year.
However his family, who want him to have a Hindu funeral, were not
allowed to appear before the court to dispute his conversion because they
are not Muslims.
The family went to the civil court and argued that Mr Moorthy was a
practising Hindu right up to a recent accident when he fell from his
wheelchair and lapsed into a coma.
They say he was even interviewed for local television two months ago
about his preparations for the Hindu festival of Diwali.
But the High Court agreed with government lawyers who argued the civil
court had no jurisdiction.
Lawyers for the dead man's relatives say the ruling leaves non-Muslims
little protection in family disputes considered under Islamic law.
Most Malaysians are Muslim but the country's constitution guarantees
freedom of worship for all.
