KUCHING, Sept 7 — The High Court here will on Monday hear an application by a woman seeking a declaration that she has the right to determine the religion and upbringing of her teenage son, who at present has a Muslim name on his MyKad.

The plaintiff is seeking a court order to compel the National Registration Department (JPN), among others, to record changes in her son’s MyKad in relation to religion, Malaysiakini reported today.

Last month, the 52-year-old mother filed the originating summons in the High Court here against the Malaysian Births, Deaths and Adoptions director; the Sarawak regional registrar of Births and Deaths; the Identity Card Division director; the JPN director-general; JPN; and the federal government, as the first to sixth defendants.

Her 17-year-old son, who was born in Sabah and is now residing in Sarawak, has professed the Buddhist faith all his life.

The divorcee contends that her son’s Muslim father has no objections to him being a Buddhist.

The boy, who turns 18 next month, declared support in his affidavit for his Buddhist mother’s legal challenge against JPN’s alleged delay in changing his religious status on his MyKad.

According to the news portal, the boy has just completed his schooling at a Chinese-medium school in Kota Kinabalu and his friends knew him by his Chinese name.

"I was born on October 18, 2005. I understand my parents are divorced. I am a Buddhist. During my schooling years, I have not taken any Islamic religious classes. I have not practised Islam in my life.

"I have never professed or practised any other religion in my life. My father has not objected to me being a Buddhist. I want to be identified as a non-Muslim,” the teenager said in the affidavit affirmed on August 9 and sighted by Malaysiakini.

In her affidavit, the plaintiff (mother) said she and the boy’s father married under Sabah’s Islamic Family Law Enactment 1992 on August 3, 1999 and their son was born on August 18, 2005.

Reiterating that she was a practising Buddhist at the time, she said they divorced on January 27, 2010 pursuant to the Federal Territory’s Islamic Family Law Act 1984.

Malaysiakini reported the mother as saying she obtained sole care and custody of their son, who was raised as a Buddhist since birth, and that her former husband, who is a Muslim, has since remarried and now has a separate family of his own.

The mother claimed on July 5 this year, she and her lawyers faced problems when applying to JPN Sarawak to change the details in her son’s identity card registers.

The applicant claimed that a woman JPN counter staff member refused to accept the application and instead gave her a separate set of forms to fill.

The mother claimed she resubmitted the application on July 18 with supporting documents from her former husband as well as their son, which JPN accepted.

She alleged that following her lawyers’ letter to the state JPN, the department replied via a letter dated July 31 that neither granted nor rejected the application and that she was asked to fill even more forms.

The mother said the forms were repetitive as they were, in essence, identical — especially the second and third forms — save for the provisions of the relevant ordinance.

She contended that as a Malaysian citizen, she is entitled to correct the details on her son’s identity card in the relevant register in any part of the country.

"The father has not objected to the child’s religious upbringing. He is also supportive of our application to amend the details of the child’s birth register and identity card.

"The child has never attended a religious class in school. He has not practised or professed the religion of Islam at all material times,” she contended.

The mother also claimed that her son is known to friends, family, teachers, and the community by his Chinese name and that they both attend a Buddhist society here.

"As the parent having sole custody and care of the child, it is my right to determine the child’s education and religious upbringing.

"The child’s best interest is to be given paramount consideration.

"The department should not maintain details on the record which are contradictory to the child’s upbringing,” said the mother in the affidavit dated August 9 and filed by Kuching-based law firm Messrs Baru Bian Advocates and Solicitors. — Borneo Post Online