Shelley Yap recently acted for Abdul Manap bin Bakusai and three of his children in a landmark case in which the High Court at Kota Kinabalu ordered that the National Registration Department (NRD) issue new National Registration Identity Cards (NRICs) to the Plaintiffs which correctly reflect their religious status.
The Honourable Justice Datuk Celestina Stuel Galid found that the Plaintiffs had proven that they are not and have never been Muslims and that their religion had been wrongly indicated as “Islam” on their respective NRIC application forms. The Plaintiffs had earlier adduced extensive documentation including baptism certificates, marriage certificates, letters from their church and copies of their grandparents’ NRICs to prove that they have always been practising Christians and have never converted to Islam.
The Plaintiffs only became aware of the error after receiving their first MyKads in 2001 as earlier generations of Malaysian NRICs did not indicate whether the bearer of a particular NRIC was a Muslim or a non-Muslim. Over the years, the Plaintiffs made numerous unsuccessful attempts to have the error corrected, ultimately necessitating the commencement of legal proceedings against the NRD.
In essence, the court had two issues to consider:
- Did the court (being a civil court) have jurisdiction to hear this case, or should the Plaintiffs have sought redress in the Syariah Courts?
- If the court had jurisdiction, did the evidence prove that the Plaintiffs are and have always been Christians?
On the first issue, the court observed that the unchallenged evidence showed that the Plaintiffs have always been practising Christians. This case therefore does not involve renunciation or conversion out of Islam, but instead concerns the rectification of inaccurate government records. On this ground, the court held that it had jurisdiction to hear this case.
As for the second issue, the court held that on the evidence, the plaintiffs had proven that the 1st Plaintiff is illiterate and that the information in the Plaintiffs’ respective NRIC application forms denoting their religion as Islam had been mistakenly inserted by the NRD officers who assisted to fill in the said forms. The court accordingly allowed the Plaintiffs’ application.
The court’s decision has attracted significant public interest nationwide, particularly in Sabah where incorrect religious entries are sometimes perpetuated across generations, as happened in this case. Our firm is honoured to have represented the Plaintiffs in these proceedings and to have played a role in a case which we hope will provide guidance on how similar cases should be approached, namely as matters of administrative correction and not as religious matters.
The Plaintiffs were represented by Adam Chin and Hassan Murtaza. Click here or here to read some of the press coverage of this case.
