11 June 2006
CONVERSION OF PRISONER WHILE IN PRISON SHOCKING!
The Malaysia Hindu Sangam is seriously concerned at the grief and turmoil suffered by a Hindu family as a result of a purported conversion to Islam of the main breadwinner while serving a prison sentence.
The Islamic authorities actions in registering the conversion of a person whilst in prison, without informing or consulting with his family, is regretted.
We do not know if any inducement was offered for this conversion.
The lessons from the still unresolved Moorthy and Shamala cases have not been learnt.
The Sangam understands that overcome by emotion and grief, the family agreed that the deceased could be buried with Islamic rites under duress because of a promise that they can have the body for a short while. However, we understand that at no time at all did the deceased profess himself as anything other than a Hindu to friends and family members who visited him in prison.
The Sangam is shocked at what is happening within institutions controlled by the State.
In Moorthy's case, it was the religious affairs officer in the army who had been harassing the family to convert to Islam. We have received reports of students in institutions of higher learning being harassed to convert by the Islamic authorities. Now, the Islamic authorities have targeted a Hindu whilst he was in prison.
The Sangam is concerned that there are still no safeguards to protect the rights and interests of persons who do not profess Islam from intrusion by the Islamic authorities.
The non Muslim community now do not know when the Islamic authorities will claim that one of our family members is a Muslim. The harmony of family lives is being shattered.
We need an immediate assurance from the Government that the Islamic authorities will stop interfering in the lives of Hindus. Concrete steps must be put in place to ensure that these unhappy events will not happen again.
Datuk A. Vaithilingam
President
Malaysia Hindu Sangam