PUTRAJAYA: The High Court has been ordered to re-hear an application brought by a woman born to a Buddhist mother and Muslim father, for a declaration that she is not bound by Selangor's Islamic laws.
Court of Appeal's three-man panel chaired by Justice Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim ordered the matter to be remitted back to the Shah Alam High Court to be heard before a different judge.
He said High Court judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir's decision to strike out Rosliza Ibrahim's application because it was an unsustainable case, did not reflect the grounds to dispose her case.
Rosliza's ordeal begun when her application to change her name was rejected by the National Registration Department (NRD) because she did not have a letter of approval from the Syariah Court.
Subsequently, she took the matter to court but was unsuccessful at the High Court and Court of Appeal to overturn the NRD's decision. She did not take the matter to the Federal Court.
The 35-year-old who works in a pharmaceutical industry then filed an originating summons in the High Court last year, seeking for a declaration that the state Islamic laws did not apply to her and the Selangor Syariah Courts did not have jurisdiction over her.
She contended she was born out of wedlock to a Buddhist mother (who has since died) and a Muslim father, and her parents were never married. She claimed she was raised a Buddhist by her mother who was also never converted to Islam.
Her mother had also provided a statutory declaration confirming she had never married Rosliza's father.
Rosliza provided evidence from the Federal Territories and Selangor religious authorities showing neither her nor her mother converted to Islam and both authorities did not have records of her parents having a Muslim marriage.
The High Court struck out Rosliza's suit on March 3, this year after considering the merits of her case.
Rosliza said the court struck out her case because she was unable to prove her parents did not contract a Muslim marriage and she claimed it was the High Court's mere speculation that her parents could have married at any state in the country or outside, but the court did not request evidence on that matter from her during the court hearing.
She sought the appellate court to remit her case back to the High Court for her to resolve the speculation and gather evidence to prove there was no valid Muslim marriage in any other state or contracted outside Malaysia.
Her counsel, Aston Paiva argued that Rosliza did not have control over her name as it was given to her by her parents and because she was an illegitimate child, the Syariah Court did not have the jurisdiction over her matter.
Selangor assistant state legal adviser Nik Haizie Azlin Nabidin said only the Syariah Court could decide whether Rosliza was born out of wedlock. -- Bernama