Responses To The Federal Court's Verdict

The Quran does not prohibit a person from or punish a person for leaving the religion. The crux of the problems is the unwillingness of the Syariah Courts to entertain applications of the Lina Joy type...We need to come up with a more progressive approach from the Syariah Courts. It needs a totally different mindset on the way we look at and understand Islam.
~ Dr Chandra Muzaffar

I am disappointed that the Federal Court is not able to vindicate a simple but important fundamental right that exists in all persons.
~Lina Joy

I am hoping that my case would have made a difference to the development of constitutional issues in the plight of many others.
~Lina Joy

The Federal Court has not only denied me that right but to all Malaysians who value fundamental freedoms.
~Lina Joy

Ms Joy's case has tested the limits of religious freedom in Malaysia.
~BBC NEWS

The decision should not be perceived as a victory for Muslims and a loss for non-Muslims in Malaysia...Instead it should be seen as a rejection of segments to radically revamp the current formula built on mutual understanding and social realities of the Malaysian society.
~Abim president Yusri Mohamad

...one cannot embrace or leave a religion according to one’s whims and fancies.
~Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim

To say that she is not under the jurisdiction of the Syariah Court – because she no longer professes Islam – is not appropriate.
~Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim

This is because apostasy is an issue dealing with Islamic laws...Therefore, the NRD has adopted the policy that requires verification by the religious authorities or the Syariah Court before the department can delete the word...Therefore, I agree with the Court of Appeal’s majority judgment that the NRD’s policy is completely reasonable.
~Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim

No one is stopping her from marrying. She is merely required to fulfil certain obligations, for the Islamic authorities to confirm her apostasy, before she embraces Christianity.
~Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim

The NRD has not shown that one of its statutory duties is to ensure that a person has properly renounced the Islamic faith in accordance with the requirements of the Islamic authorities.
~Chief Judge Datuk Richard Malanjum's critique on National Registration Department

The NRD had acted ultra vires or illegally.
~Chief Judge Datuk Richard Malanjum's critique on National Registration Department

Hence, to expect the appellant (Lina) to apply for a certificate of apostasy – when to do so would likely expose her to a range of offences under the Islamic law – is, in my view, unreasonable.
~Chief Judge Datuk Richard Malanjum on Federal Court's verdict

This decision violates international law and stands in wrongheaded defiance of the universal human right to religious freedom.
~Angela Wu, International Director for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty

International law and the Malaysian Constitution guarantee the right to choose your own religious beliefs and change those beliefs according to your conscience. Today the Federal Court made it clear that if the state says you are a Muslim, those rights don't apply to you. Unfortunately for Lina Joy, a universal human right has been trumped by the state's insistence that she bow to sharia law.
~Angela Wu, International Director for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty

Where are the feminists? Oh, and how about CAIR? Or our State Department? Or shall we all just pretend Lina Joy does not exist and sing "Kumbaya?"
~Michelle Malkin

We are mindful that issues relating to religion will inevitably draw emotive responses in a multireligious society...Malaysians must be prepared to confront these issues maturely and dispassionately within the framework of our Federal Constitution as the supreme law of the land.
~S. Ambiga, President of BAR Council

In an event of any inconsistency or conflict between the provisions of State Enactments and of the Federal Constitution, the latter must prevail.
~S. Ambiga, President of BAR Council

We believe that the constitutional provision in Article 11 of the Federal Constitution which guarantees freedom of religion in our country has been severely violated.
~Dr Herman Shastri, General-Secretary of Council of Churches of Malaysia

It is, therefore, vital that the necessary legislation be enacted to ensure that no citizen would be penalised when he or she exercises the individual right to choose a faith and to practice it in freedom.
~Dr Herman Shastri, General-Secretary of Council of Churches of Malaysia

The decision of the Federal Court sets a landmark example of making legal judgement based on religious sentiment and thus inadvertently disregarding the fundamental right of an individual to profess or to practice the religion of his or her choice.
~National Evangelical Christian Fellowship Malaysia

They must have a hole in their heads if they say it’s a political decision...That is emotions (talking). If people allow themselves to be influenced by emotions, they will think of all sorts of things and suspect this and that and make themselves uneasy.
~Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi

If they have the wrong perception, what can we do? The court made a decision and I don’t question that. There are many decisions the court had made which many of us are not happy with.
~Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi

What is the point of keeping a person a Muslim if they no longer believed in the faith and made that publicly known?
~Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, Minister in Prime Minister's Department

For Muslims to feel euphoric that Islam has finally triumphed is also misplaced. This is not a battle between Islam and the rest. It is simply restoring things in their right place, of respecting the separate jurisdictions of the Shariah and Civil courts in accordance to Article 121(1a), and of adhering to procedures.
~Dr. Mazeni Alwi, Muslim Professionals Forum

In our enthusiasm to champion religious freedom, let us not turn our backs on these mechanisms and institutions that have held together our complex society and the source of our much praised religious harmony.
~Dr. Mazeni Alwi, Muslim Professionals Forum