Viewpoint: ‘Body Snatching’ – Government Must Act!

The recent news reports of Islamic religious authority claiming that a deceased person has converted to Islam  has once again caused turmoil, confusion and distress for those grieving from his departure from this life.

Instead of mourning in peace and solitude for his demise, they have had to engage in a tussle with the Islamic religious authority that had come to their door step to ‘claim’ his lifeless body to deprive the family members from carrying out the last rites in accordance with the only religious practice that they have known to have been embraced by the deceased.

Lawrence Selvananthan, 33, who died recently, is the case in point. The family members were preparing to make the journey to the Church of Immaculate Conception, Port Dickson with the wake for funeral mass, when they were stopped by the police and officials from the Negeri Sembilan Islamic Affairs Department.

These officials claimed that Lawrence had converted into Islam on 19 September 2011, a few days before his demise. The already distraught family members were not convinced and viewed the whole affair of his conversion with scepticism.

Similar cases have been reported in the past. In 2009, the Islamic authorities claimed the body of Mohan Singh, 41. They alleged that he had converted to Islam in 1992. His family members insisted that he was a practising Sikh.

In January 2008, 74 years old Gan Eng Or's body was seized after his oldest son, himself a Muslim convert said that senior Gan had converted to Islam the preceding year. Other family members said Gan, a practising Buddhist could not have converted because he was senile and paralysed after suffering two strokes. Medical report states that Gan was unable to speak after a stroke in 2006. These family members alleged that the conversion papers were also flawed because they weren’t signed and certified.

Gan’s wife and seven other children challenged the claim of his conversion in the civil court. To their disappointment, the civil court held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the matter. Gan was buried according to Muslim rites.

Similar attempts were made by the Islamic religious authority in December 2006 to claim the body of Rayappan Anthony, a Catholic. His family members were unaware of his alleged conversion to Islam.

Then there is the case of Maniam Moorthy, a Hindu who was part of the Malaysian team to reach the top of Mount Everest. Moorthy died in 2005 after an accident. His family was shocked when the Islamic authority confiscated his body and buried him as a Muslim.

These series of 'body-snatching' cases deeply divides our country's already fragile, multicultural and multi-religious setting. These incidents will continue to occur unless the government is bold enough to take steps to bring about changes in the law, so that the religious status of the deceased person can be determined by the civil courts.

Attempts were made to review some of the laws on conversion to Islam. However in 2010, Nazri Abdul Aziz de-facto Minister of Law, revealed that the Malay rulers have yet to consent to the proposed changes. Nothing further has been heard on these proposed changes.

Remaining silent on the subject is not a solution. The government must act, so that the dead and the living may rest in peace!

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the views of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Catholic Lawyers Society Kuala Lumpur. CLS makes no representation concerning, and does not guarantee the source, originality, accuracy, completeness or reliability of any statement, information, data, finding, interpretation, advice, opinion, or view presented.