A Malaysian court yesterday ordered a woman's body to be released for a Christian funeral after Islamic authorities retracted their claim that she had converted to Islam.
The case of Wong Sau Lan, who died on Dec. 30 at the age of 53, marks a small victory for Malaysia's minorities after a series of interfaith disputes, which had sowed fears that religious rights of non-Muslims were under threat.
Wong's husband, Ngiam Tee Kong, will now cremate the body in a Christian funeral early next week, said his lawyer, Karpal Singh.
He said the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered the hospital, where Wong's body was kept while the dispute was being resolved in court, to release the body to her husband.
The court order was based on a Jan. 16 letter by Islamic authorities sent to Karpal that said Wong's conversion to Islam on Dec. 24 was not carried out properly and therefore was not valid, Karpal said.
"They have been negligent in saying earlier that she was converted lawfully. This is a very serious matter," Karpal said. "They should have investigated first."
Karpal said Ngiam, who has maintained his wife was a Christian at her death, was suing the hospital where Wong died and the Islamic department for damages. The amount has not yet been specified, he said.
It was not clear why the Islamic authorities first claimed Wong's body, alleging she had converted lawfully, but then retracted their claims. Relevant authorities could not immediately be reached.
A national debate over religious conversions erupted in late 2005, when a court ordered Maniam Moorthy, a member of Malaysia's Mount Everest expedition, to be buried as a Muslim despite objections from his Hindu wife.
In other cases since then, Malaysia's secular courts have denied at least two women the right to convert out of Islam, passing the matter to the country's separate Muslim Shariah courts, which are unlikely to grant conversion.
Arsenio Butil Jr fell to his knees and began to pray when last week’s deadly magnitude 7.8 earthquake began shaking his home on the coast of the southern Philippines. When he opened his eyes, he saw a once-familiar shoreline changing in real time, with swathes of previously submerged coral suddenly pushing above the waterline. The June 8 quake, driven by a shifting of the nearby Cotabato Trench, toppled buildings, triggered landslides and killed at least 76 people on the southern island of Mindanao. The tectonic forces at work also thrust chunks of the island’s coastline upward in a phenomenon known as “coastal uplift,”
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday said that Russian forces were preparing an impending massive attack on Ukraine and warned residents to take special care as Russian strikes in different regions killed at least six people. “Tonight and in the coming hours, it is especially important to pay close attention to air raid warnings,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. “The Russians have prepared for a massive attack. Please take care of yourselves.” Russian forces have staged a series of heavy attacks on Kyiv in the past few weeks and in other major cities. Strikes on Monday last week killed
YUCK OR YUM? While it is difficult to sell second-hand goods that are more than seven years old in Japan, they are still popular in foreign markets, an executive said Under a scorching sun in a Bangkok suburb, a whistle blew, and shouts filled the air as dozens of shoppers rushed into a warehouse bearing the sign “Japanese Second-Hand Store.” From bags and bicycles to surfboards and suitcases, the Japanese second-hand market is booming, with quality-conscious buyers in other Asian countries increasingly tapping into the circular economy trend. “What is considered garbage for them can still be useful in Thailand,” said 36-year-old Lookpoo Sathitpanyapon, who runs an online store selling toy keychains. “That bag, that bag,” one shopper shouted while racing through the warehouse, filled with everything from colorful toys
NATO ALLIES: The Italian PM accused Trump of ‘constant, unprovoked ... senseless’ attacks and said ‘my popularity is none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours’ Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday fired back at US President Donald Trump, saying his “constant, unprovoked attacks are senseless” after he escalated a diplomatic row by accusing her of repeatedly seeking a photograph with him. The clash has opened an unusually personal rift between Trump and one of Europe’s most prominent right-wing leaders, who had sought to cast herself as a bridge between Washington and the continent during Trump’s return to power. Trump had initially told Italian broadcaster La7 that Meloni “begged” him for a picture at last week’s G7 summit in France, saying he agreed only because
RSS