KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — On Aug. 5, a civil court denied a woman’s appeal to renounce Islam in favor of Christianity, highlighting the jurisdictional disputes in Malaysia’s dual legal system.
Lim Yoke Khoon had filed a suit in her original ethnic Chinese name to renounce Islam and embrace Christianity. In a 2–1 majority ruling, the Shah Alam Court of Appeal denied her case on a technicality.
According to judges Tengku Baharudin Shah Tengku Mahmud and Sulong Mat Jeraie, Lim had ceased to “exist” under her original name when she converted to Islam and assumed a new name, Noorashikin Lim binti Abdullah.
Lim, 35, is reportedly expected to appeal to the country’s top civil court.
A public forum to discuss such jurisdictional disputes, in this case the dual court system’s effect on families of people who convert to Islam, was scheduled for Aug. 9, but Muslim protestors succeeded in halting it after only one hour.
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