The grandson of former Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman said Rooney’s case was special.
He was commenting on the unhappiness expressed by Isma and Perkasa – two Malay-Muslim NGOs – over reports that the National Registration Department had withdrawn its appeal against the High Court decision to allow Rooney to renounce Islam and have the decision reflected in his MyKad.
Fariq told FMT he understood Perkasa and Isma’s sentiments on apostasy, but the NGOs should not view Rooney’s case as one and that High Court judge Yew Ken Kie, in making her decision, would have taken the necessary factors into account before making her decision.
Fariq said the crux of the matter was the differing jurisdictions of civil and shariah courts. He believed this could be resolved through a special court made up of civil and shariah judges.
This, he explained, would be a way to resolve all special religious cases and this would prevent disputes between groups over decisions made by either court.
“The way forward is also built on discourse, but sometimes some NGOs can be overzealous. It’s time NGOs worked together for a solution rather than bickered.”
Meanwhile, Parit Buntar MP Mujahid Rawa said Article 11 of the Constitution ensured freedom of religion and that if someone wanted to renounce his or her religion on the grounds of free will and conviction and without force or monetary reward, they should be allowed due process.
The Amanah lawmaker said the NRD should not have appealed the court judgment in the first place if the religious authorities had already issued a letter of release for Rooney.
“I’m confident that the Sarawak Islamic Religious Department and Sarawak Islamic Council would have done their homework before agreeing to issue such a letter of release,” he told FMT.
Mujahid, however, regretted that the issue had been used for political mileage and that Prime Minister Najib Razak’s assurance that the NRD would withdraw its appeal demonstrated the interference of the executive in the judiciary.
“This is similar to how Najib announced the 10-point solution to the Bible issue just before the last Sarawak election,” he said, adding it was wrong to politicise such matters.
He added that if the NRD had already filed for an appeal, then due process should take place and the NRD withdrawing its appeal for the sake of votes was not a good signal.
Earlier today, both Perkasa and Isma had hit out at Najib and Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem for intervening in the sensitive case.
NRD Director-General Sulaiman Keling said today it would apply to withdraw its appeal against the court decision allowing the Dayak Bidayuh man to renounce Islam and return to Christianity,
“After making a comprehensive study of Rooney’s case, the state NRD director as the third respondent in the judicial review case, has decided to withdraw the appeal against the High Court’s decision,” he said in a press statement.
Rooney was born into a Christian family in 1975 but his parents converted to Islam when he was eight years old.