Your Identity is Whatever We Say it is

 
A woman in Malaysia who renounced Islam and changed her name to Lina Joy (from Azlina Jailani) has been told it’s a no go by the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya. Muslim she was and Muslim she will stay, at least as far as her identity card is concerned.

The court based its decision on the fact that Ms. Joy’s renunciation of Islam for Christianity had no bearing on the matter of identity. Furthermore, according to the same justices, she had no permission from the Shari’a court to make such a decision about who she is. This particular part of their fine print is most pointedly a farce, considering that any appeal to a Shari'a court to remove herself from the rolls of Islam is sufficient cause to have her killed as an apostate. These folks were dreamed up by Kafka and bequeathed to us when he died.

Specifically, one Justice, Datuk Faiza Thambi Chik, held that as Lina was a Malay, she could not renounce Islam. How religious affiliation follows from nationality was not elucidated, though to the Justices it all seemed perfectly clear. Justice Chik declares,

The Director-General of the National Registration Department (NRD) was right in not allowing the application brought by Lina Joy.

For those of us who feel free to change our religious identity from one persuasion to another -- as the Spirit moves us, so to speak -- and for those of us at liberty to dispense with any religious affiliation whatsover, this ruling descends from the bench like a pronouncement from Mars.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Anglican bishops are busy apologizing for the bad West and its corrupt, violent and lethal depredations against Iraq. They would, no doubt, feel they'd found a spiritual home in the courthouse in Putrajaya.


Hat tip: Nubarrones Islamicos