Malaysia’s Muslims have ‘no way out’

JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia — In multiethnic Malaysia, where Islam is the official religion but freedom of religion is guaranteed under the constitution, the majority Malays are born Muslim and apostasy is all but impossible for them.

Cases of aspiring apostates are handled by Shariah courts, rather than civil courts. According to the Koran, apostasy is grounds for death, and no Muslim should assist another out of the religion. So the appeals usually sit, and sit. Many would-be apostates don’t live to see their conversion officially recognized.

Some have been jailed. As one religious scholar put it, “In Malaysia, there’s a way into Islam, but no way out.”

Although proselytizing of Muslims by non-Muslims is forbidden, the reverse is permissible. Proselytizers have been sent to jail under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for indefinite detention without trial. Hands off our Muslims, who make up 60 percent of the population, the Malay-led government appears to be saying.

The government is especially worried about Christian proselytizing, said Shad Salem Faruq, professor of law at the University of Technology MARA. Malaysia is home to substantial Hindu and Buddhist minorities, 6 and 20 percent respectively.

“But Hinduism and Buddhism historically have had less of a tradition of proselytizing than Christianity,” he said.

It is illegal to print the Bible and other Christian materials in the national language, Bahasa Malay. Some states restrict the use of certain religious terms by Christians in the Malay language, lest Muslims be confused.

Yet, despite the obstacles, some Christian proselytizers are busy.

The Rev. Kumar — not his real name — recalls the religious police rattling his front gate in the middle of the night. The warning was clear.

“But I am not afraid,” Mr. Kumar said. “My work is God’s will and I have a worthy cause to fight for. [Malays] have a right to find Jesus.”

His evangelical church has 12 branches throughout Malaysia and 30 affiliates, and Mr. Kumar estimates that 100 Muslims are converting to Christianity every month in the country. He said there has been a marked increase in interest in the past three years, since the September 11 attacks in the United States. A royal family and the daughter of a former prime minister are among his list of converts.

Christian groups estimate that there are 30,000 Malay converts in the country. Some Muslim groups say the figure is much lower. However, nondenominational observers say most converts live in secrecy for fear of harassment from the government, family and fellow Malays.

One Malay convert and former ustaza, a Muslim religious teacher, reports that she and her family are harassed regularly by the authorities. Because she is Malay, her son was born a Muslim and forced to adopt a Muslim name. In school, despite his protests of being a Christian, he has to sit through Islamic studies, a requirement for all Muslims.

Last year, the religious police demanded that she stop her “activities,” which included helping drug addicts and battered women.

She conceded, though, that part of the assistance involved introducing Malays to Christian doctrine. She recalled parking herself at a McDonald’s wearing a Muslim head scarf to more effectively introduce Muslim schoolgirls to the Bible.

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