PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has ruled that a suit filed by 137 Orang Asli seeking to revoke their Muslim status must be decided in a full High Court trial.
On Wednesday (May 13), a three-judge panel chaired by Justice Datuk Seri Mohd Firuz Jaffril allowed the appeal by the Pahang Council of Islamic Religion and Malay Customs (Muip) and set aside the Kuantan High Court's ruling that the conversions were void ab initio (void from the outset).
"We find that the High Court judge contradicted himself by declaring the respondents' conversion void ab initio, when such a finding can only be made after a full trial," said Justice Mohd Firuz, who sat with Justices Datuk Dr Alwi Abdul Wahab and Datuk Nadzarin Wok Nordin.
The High Court judge, Justice Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Harun (now a Court of Appeal judge), had previously decided the case summarily based solely on affidavits filed by the plaintiffs.
Justice Firuz also ruled that the jurisdictional issue as to whether the suit belongs in the Syariah Court or the civil courts must be determined at the High Court trial first, before any decision on whether all or some of the respondents had embraced Islam. – Bernama
