Insight: There is no Joy yet…

*Please note this is an article which discusses religious issues, not a religious article which supports or questions the position of either of the 2 great religions in the world*

The legal system of Malaysia yesterday rejected an appeal by Ms Lina Joy, 43, to officially change her religion from Islam to Christianity. See here for details. She will have to submit her request now to, of all courts, the Syariah or Islamic Court, the religious legal system governing all Muslims. This decision means Ms Lina Joy will not get what she fights for, since the denunciation of Islam is the most sinful act that the Syariah abhors.

Prior to this, Ms Joy, a Sales Assistant, successfully obtained permission to change her original name Azlina Jailani, as on her identity card, to Lina Joy. However to deal with a change in religion is truly a more serious affair.

Indeed this is a very sensitive yet alarming issue deserving some attention even in Singapore. I too, have encountered a friend of Malay-Muslim origin who has converted to Christianity. It’s appropriate at this juncture that I introduce him.

I first met him while I was in junior college. We both attended a youth camp organized by a Christian leadership training institute. He was much senior in age than I was then. I was surprised to see a Malay there, maybe thinking he was an Indonesian. It turned out that he was a Malay Christian (a very odd term to me till now) who graduated from Cambridge University in the UK. He was a brilliant intellect who had just started working.

However, similar to Ms Joy, he too had been disowned by his family due to his religious conversion. His Malay friends were reluctant to contact him for fear of themselves being exposed by the local Muslim community. His usual friends were Chinese and those from his church group.

To be a Malay is to be a Muslim. This is true both in Singapore and Malaysia. However it seems there’s a different, arguably better picture in Indonesia. There is probably a harmony of religions even amongst neighbourhoods which are pre-dominantly Muslim.

For example, a walk in an alley in a “perumahan” (Indonesian for residential estate) in Jakarta might allow you to observe Christian/Catholic Crosses inside a few houses. They all speak the same language but they sure respect each other. Kids play in the same group and the “kampong” spirit does not seem to have denigrated into different factions. I believe some of the ancestors of these Christians/Catholics used to be Muslims too.

(NOTE: About 9 in 10 people in Indonesia are Muslims)

So far some of the nicest people that I’ve encountered in Indonesia were Muslims, some even better than my so-called Christian friends in terms of humility and sincerity.

Ironically it’s only in far-fletched areas of the Indonesian archipelago that we hear of people, probably ill-influenced by religious extremism, killing one another in the name of religion.

(I’ve heard from some Indonesian friends that places which used to be famous for religious violence have become more peaceful now, such as Ambon, which I heard offers some of the most beautiful and pristine beaches and diving spots in the world. Surely I have to take a look myself!)

So how should the mass media report on such issues in future? There might be people like Lina Joy in Singapore too, you may ask. My lowly opinion is: Don’t report such things at all. Keep it as low key as possible. (It’s ironic that we now have a Religious Harmony Day in Singapore to remind everyone of the differences which we are trying to ignore.) The Singapore mass media have been performing a mighty wonderful job on maintaining secrecy for certain issues. They can deal well with this one too.