Author:
Publication: The Straits Times
Date: July 25, 2001
KUALA LUMPUR -- The government in
mostly Muslim Malaysia is considering a new law that could mean detaining
people who renounce Islam in rehabilitation centres, the Bernama national
news agency reported on Wednesday. Mr Noh Omar, a senior official in Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad's department, said authorities were working to
introduce an Islamic Faith Rehabilitation Act to curb cases of apostasy.
He did not give any details of what such an act would provide for when
he spoke in Parliament.But a similarly named act enforced in northern Perlis
state last year empowered the local Islamic court to fight deviant religious
teachings by detaining offenders in rehabilitation centres. Bernama quoted
him as saying that the federal government had held discussions with Islamic
clerics in various states to find a 'method of restoring the faith of the
apostate'.He added there was already a national-level faith rehabilitation
centre in Kuala Lumpur. He said the number of Muslims renouncing their
faith in Malaysia was small, but did not provide any statistics. Malaysia's
biggest opposition party, a fundamentalist Islamic group, has repeatedly
clashed with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government by advocating
death for apostasy and the amputation of limbs for certain crimes.But Parliament
has vetoed such punishments as too extreme. Malaysia has an Islamic court
system for Muslims, as well as a secular justice system. - AP
