No religious freedom for Muslims in Malaysia

The concept of religious freedom does not apply to Muslims in Malaysia, a retired high court judge told the two-day International Seminar on Comparative Laws (ISCOM 2008) (click here for the full article). Citing the case of Lina Joy's renunciation of Islam, Datuk Faiza Tamby Chik noted while delivering a working paper, that the high court in its decision ruled that a Malay under Article 160(2) of the Federal Constitution remained in the Islamic faith until his or her dying days. He also noted that non-Muslims in the country had wide religious freedom. I suspect that he means by this the freedom to practice their faith just so long as it does not include evangelism of Muslims and the right to convert to Islam (which is a typical "freedom" extended to non-Muslims in Islamic countries).

It is interesting to observe yet again (as I have recently noted in other blogs) just how much religious freedom means something quite different to Muslims and to those in the West.