Kuala Lumpur, Nov 25 (IANS) A Malaysian woman is fighting to establish that she is a Hindu, denying a claim by the government’s social welfare department that she converted to Islam in 1983.
Siti Hasnah Vangarama Abdullah, who goes by her original name S. Banggarma, 27, was issued a conversion certificate when she was seven years old in 1989. Her lawyer Gooi Hsiao Leung said: ‘Clearly, you cannot convert twice.’
The certificate lists Banggarma and her younger sister as Muslim. Banggarma, however, says that her younger sister was not even born at that time.
The government, however, says the father converted to Islam along with the rest of the family and placed the daughters in a welfare home.
Banggarma’s case came to light last week when she appealed to Gooi for help to register her marriage to S. Sockalingam, 31, with the National Registration Depart-ment, The Star newspaper said Wednesday.
Despite going through a traditional Hindu marriage ceremony in 2001, Banggarma says she is unable to register her marriage or name her husband as the father of her two children in their birth certificates as she is listed as a Muslim.
Ethnic Indians, a bulk of them Tamil Hindus who settled here during the British era, form nearly eight percent of Malaysia’s multi-religious population that has a Muslim majority.
