Dr Mohamed Azam: NUMBER Apostates Among Muslims < 300; MAJORITY are Muslim CONVERTS; And “RAJA SHERINA” Where are U HIDING? See YOUR Photo!

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UPDATE: Dec 09 06

After 10 days of Police bail, the DPP in KL is not giving this case much urgency. can guess why??

Raja Sherina's SMS case: Police waiting for directive to charge couple

09 Dec 2006 ; P. Chandra Sagaran IPOH: Police are waiting for a directive from the Deputy Public Prosecutor on whether to charge a couple implicated in the Datuk Azhar Mansor’s alleged apostasy SMS controversy. Perak Deputy Police Chief SAC 1 Datuk Tan Seng Eng said the police had yet to receive any directive.

"As it is now, we are not making any more arrests," he told reporters after launching an anti-crime campaign organised by Ipoh City Police at a shopping complex here today. A woman in the centre of the controversy, known as Raja Sherina, and her husband were released on a one-month police bail upon the expiry of their eight-day remand on Nov 27. They had been temporarily released pending the Deputy Public Prosecutor's decision on whether to charge the couple under the Sedition Act 1948.

The couple was sent back to their hometown in Sungai Petani, Kedah after their release. Raja Sherina was detained with her husband in Alor Star on Nov 20, hours after police released her photograph to the media.

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ABOVE: The "Raja" Arrivving in court and released on 1-month Police Bail & Escorted back to hometown

UPDATE: Nov 27 2006, Monday

“Raja Sherina” & Husband OUT on 1-MONTH POLCE Bail. Given “Royal” Treatment - Sent Home to Kedah by Police; DPP OPTION: Unconditional Release or Charged under 1948 SEDITION Act

This is velvet glove treatment for a “Raja”. If it is an opposition member, it would be a different story. Perhaps she is “innocent” and was a “substitute” for some other VIP.

"Raja Sherina" And Husband Released On Police Bail

IPOH, Nov 27 (Bernama) -- A woman identified only as "Raja Sherina" and her husband were released on one-month police bail Monday after they had been remanded in connection with a short messaging service (SMS) related to alleged baptism of Muslims at a church here. Court Registrar Azuratul Akmar Abdul Ghaffar read out the order releasing the couple, who are in their 40s, at a waiting room of the court here. The couple, whose remand expired Monday, were brought to the Magistrate's Court at 11.35 am in a police car. Raja Sherina's husband was in handcuffs. They refused to speak to reporters as they left the court but smiled and waved to them from a police car. It is learned that the police sent them to their home in Sungai Petani, Kedah. "Raja Sherina" and her husband were arrested at the compound of the Alor Star Hospital at 9.30 pm last Monday, one week after police looked for them. Their three-year-old son was with them at the time of the arrest.

Perak Police Chief Datuk Abdul Aziz Bulat said the couple were released pending a decision by the public prosecutor whether to charge them under the Sedition Act 1948 or grant them an unconditional release. He said he hoped that the public would learn from the incident not to spread sensitive matters via SMS, which could cause undue tension in the society. "Let us be more rational when sending any SMS," he said. A group of people gathered at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Silibin here on Nov 5 following the circulation of an SMS about a purported baptism of Muslims there by national mariner Datuk Azhar Mansor.

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UPDATE: Nov 26 2006

MORE PICTURES - UNCovered and EXposed The True face of Raja Sherina at the REMAND Extension; Police Investigations Completed; To be Released - Mon 27^th Nov 06 with Husband; Up to DPP for Next Action

Also loaded New & More pictures of the 500 strong Muslims & NGO who gathered in front of the Church of our Lady, Jln Silibin Ipoh, on Nov 05 06 with the FRU keeping the order

ABOVE & BELOW; Exposed and uncovered, the true face of Raja Sherina emerging from and in the courtroom

Raja Sherina, Husband To Be Released Tomorrow; November 26, 2006 18:33 PM

IPOH, Nov 26 (Bernama) -- A woman identified only as "Raja Sherina" and her husband, held under remand by police since Monday to help with the probe into a short messaging service (SMS) on the baptism of Malays, are to be released Monday. Perak CID Chief SAC II Patrick Jiges Sijore said police have completed their investigation and sent a report yesterday to the office of the deputy public prosecutor (DPP). The couple, who are in their 40s, will be released on police bail after their remand period expires tomorrow. SAC Sijore told Bernama it was now up to the DPP to determine the next course of action. Police detained the couple in Alor Star on Nov 20 after "Raja Sherina" did not come forward to assist them in the investigation. The case was investigated under the Sedition Act 1948. "Raja Sherina" is believed to be the first person to have sent out an SMS message claiming that a group of Malays were to be baptised by national mariner Datuk Azahar Mansor at a church in Silibin here last Nov 5.

ABOVE: One of the NGO briefing the gathering; BELOW: The FRU (Federal Reserve Unit) was at hand to control the 500 crowd

As a result, about 500 Muslims including those from several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) gathered outside the church to verify the SMS claim, only to be told that the baptism was of 110 non-Muslim children.

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Raja Sherina's Remand Extended Until Monday; November 23, 2006 18:06 PM IPOH, Nov 23 (Bernama) -- Police Thursday managed to get the remand order on Raja Sherina, the woman implicated in the SMS rumour that some Muslims were to be baptised at a church here on Nov 5, and her husband extended until Monday.

ABOVE & BELOW: Raja Sherina closely covered up and shielded by her Black dress and escorted by two pretty officers into the courtroom

The extension was sought to enable them to wrap up investigations into the case. The earlier three-day remand order issued by the magistrate's court here on the couple was to expire Thursday.

ABOVE & BELOW: Raja Sherina's husband at the remand extension hearing on thursday 23 Nov 2006

They were brought to the court at 2.20pm and appeared calm when the application for the remand extension was brought before magistrate Syamsul Rezal Md Ariff. They were arrested in Alor Star on Monday in connection with the case. The rumour had alleged that national mariner Datuk Azhar Mansor was to participate in the baptism of the Muslims. Wednesday, State CID chief SAC II Patrick Sijore said the woman, who is in her 40's, was believed to be the source of the SMS rumour. When the arrest was made at the Alor Star Hospital grounds at 9.30pm on Monday, she was said to have become hysterical and had to be treated at the HAS before being brought here together with her 38-year-old husband the same night. And before being brought to the Ipoh magistrate's court for the initial remand order on the couple, police said she again became hysterical and had to be given treatment at the Ipoh Hospital. (see BELOW)

On Nov 5, over 500 Muslims gathered in front of a Catholic church in Silibin here to protest the purported baptism. Police had to be called in to calm things down and it turned out that the event at the church was to be the first holy communion for 195 Indian children. The SMS message had also alleged that Perak Mufti Datuk Seri Harussani Zakaria was aware that the baptism would take place. Police launched a manhunt for Raja Sherina when the Mufti alleged that she had been the source of the rumour. The case is being investigated under the Sedition Act 1948 and the Multimedia and Communications Act 1998.

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Update Nov 22 06;

November 21, 2006 17:27 PM Raja Sherina Apprehended; IPOH, Nov 21 (Bernama) -- Raja Sherina, the woman the police have been looking for to assist them in the case involving an SMS rumour about Muslims being baptised, has been apprehended. Perak police chief Datuk Abdul Aziz Bulat said that she was arrested in front of the Alor Star Hospital (HAS) at about 9.30pm Monday night. She was with her 38-year-old husband and a son, three, when the arrest was made. "When the arrest was made, she became hysterical but her husband remained calm. She was then brought to the HAS for treatment while the boy was surrendered to her Husband," Abdul Aziz told reporters when met at the Ipoh police headquarters here Tuesday. He said police had tracked her down to Alor Star after two other locations -- Sitiawan and Sungai Petani -- in their hunt for her did not bear fruit. Yesterday, police issued to the media a picture of the woman after attempts to get her to surrender herself to the police proved unsuccessful. Prior to the release of her picture, police had given Raja Sherina, believed to be in her 40s from Sungei Petani, Kedah, two 48-hour periods from last Wednesday to turn herself in. Abdul Aziz said that after Raja Sherina was attended to for her hysteria, she and her husband were brought to the Ipoh police headquarters from Alor Star. Her son was sent to a relative of hers in Alor Star to be cared for, he said. He said that this (Tuesday) morning she again went into a hysterical state and was brought to the Ipoh hospital for treatment before being brought to the Magistrate's court here to obtain a remand order against them. Abdul Aziz, however, declined to take reporters' questions as he was heading to an undisclosed destination.

ABOVE: At the magistrate court in Ipoh, Raja Sherina was remanded; BELOW: The van carrying her to Ipoh Hospital for treament
At about 3 pm, the woman and her husband were ordered to be remanded for three days from today by Majistrate Syamsul Rezal Md Ariff. On Nov 5, more than 500 Muslims gathered to protest in front of a Catholic church in Silibin here following the spread of an SMS rumour that national mariner Datuk Azhar Mansor would be participating in the baptism of a group of Muslims there. The SMS had alleged that the Perak Mufti had confirmed that the baptism would take place. However, on Nov 12, the mufti, Datuk Seri Harussani Zakaria, on his return from a trip to Syria, revealed that Raja Sherina was the source of the SMS message. He said that the woman had sent him the SMS and had also come to see him about it. Azhar has since clarified that he has never renounced Islam and had nothing to do with the incident. It turned out that the event at the church was for the first Holy Communion of 98 Indian children. = = = = = =

Which sms? ABOVE: The offending one (WHO IS THE SENDER OF THIS ONE???) with Mufti's name and BELOW: The Perak Mufti showing "original" - send by "Raja Sherina"?
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DOES SHE EXIST? Another Red Herring! Her name is in inverted Commas "Raja Sherina"


Sunday Interview: Very few have abandoned the faith;Sunday Times;19 Nov 2006;P. Selvarani; Recent claims that Muslims are converting to Christianity by the hundreds of thousands have caused much unrest among some Muslim groups.

Dr Mohamed Azam Mohamed Adil, lecturer at UiTM’s Centre for Islamic Thought and Understanding, has spent nine years studying the problem of apostasy among Malaysian Muslims. He tells P. SELVARANI that the claims are false.

Q: Is it true that Muslims in the country are renouncing the religion by the hundreds of thousands, even as much as 250,000, as recently claimed by some quarters, including the Mufti of Perak? A: I disagree with these figures given because there is no concrete data to support these claims. Official data that I have obtained from the Syariah courts, State Religious Departments and the National Registration Department (NRD) show that the number of apostates among the Muslims is less than 300. My research shows that 750 Muslims applied to the NRD to change their names to non-Muslim names between 1999 and July 2003, and of the number only 220 were successful. Most of them were converts to Islam. But the number of Muslims who actually applied to the Syariah courts to renounce Islam is much lower — there were only 100 between 1994 and 2003.

Q: How did the talk about conversions of some 100,000 Muslims gain currency? A: I really don’t know. It could have been based on rumours circulating on the Net or in other forms such as the SMS. Apostasy is a serious matter in Malaysia. If there are those who claim that the figure runs into the hundreds of thousands, then they must show some concrete data to support their statements. You cannot rely on hearsay. Such sensitive statements, which are unsubstantiated by facts, are dangerous as they can lead to chaos, more so when they come from community or religious leaders. You must have concrete data otherwise how do you justify your statement? You can say so and so has changed his religion. How do you know? In a court of law, you have to prove it. Legally, there must be a declaration from the Syariah court before a person can be deemed an apostate.

Q: What percentage of those who applied to renounce Islam are born Muslims? A: The number of born Muslims who renounce Islam is very small. Most of the applicants are Muslim converts who decide to leave Islam upon dissolution of the marriage, or the death of their spouse. The born Muslims who apply to renounce Islam are usually women who do it because of love — when they decide to marry someone of another faith. In some isolated cases, children from mixed marriages (where one parent is a Muslim), or those who were born illegitimate, applied to renounce the religion.

Q: Your research shows that Negri Sembilan has the highest record of applications to renounce Islam (84 applications between 1994 and 2003) as well as the highest number of recorded renunciations (16 approvals). Why is this so? A: Negri Sembilan is the only state which "allows" a Muslim to leave Islam subject to certain procedural conditions. Under its Administration of Islamic Law Enactment 2003 (the new law), a Muslim cannot renounce or be deemed to have renounced Islam unless he has a declaration to the effect from the Syariah High Court of the state. Other states do not have such a provision in their Syariah laws and that is why they do not receive any applications to renounce and even if they do, the number is very small because of their punitive laws.

Q: On what grounds are these applications in Negri Sembilan approved? A: The applicant must specify the grounds for his application with a supporting affidavit. The Syariah court judge then adjourns the application for 90 days and refers the person to the Mufti for counselling. If after 90 days the judge feels that such a person will not repent, he will then adjourn the hearing of the application for a period of up to a year, during which time the applicant is required to undergo a counselling session to reconsider his decision. After this period, the judge can make a conclusion whether to declare the applicant an apostate or otherwise. What I learnt from my research when I interviewed the NGOs was that they did not object to this counselling.

Q: How do the other states deal with this problem of apostasy among Muslims? A: Perak, Malacca, Sabah and Terengganu have criminalised apostasy with fines not exceeding RM3,000 and/or imprisonment of not more than two years. Pahang has the most deterrent law, where upon conviction, an apostate can be fined up to RM5,000 and/or imprisoned up to three years and could even get six strokes of the rotan. In Sarawak, for example, applicants can go directly to the state’s Islamic Affairs Department, which will then certify their conversions from Islam upon determining that the person "irreconcilably seeks to renounce the religion". These documents certifying that such a person is no longer a Muslim are considered valid by the NRD, which under the National Registration Regulations 1990 (amended 2001) could accept such declarations only from either the state Syariah courts or the Islamic Affairs Departments. In some states, such as Kedah, applications to renounce Islam are rejected on the grounds that there is no provision under their Syariah laws for such applications to be heard. The 12 applications received by the Federal Territories between 2001 and August 2003 were dismissed by the Syariah courts on the grounds that there were no provisions for its judges to decide for or against such cases.

Q: How should states handle these cases?
A: We should have a standard law on apostasy. Other states should follow Negri Sembilan because it has the counselling process to persuade those who have renounced to go back to Islam. I give this recommendation based on what happens in Singapore. In Singapore, Muslims who want to renounce Islam must go to the Mufti’s office for counselling. Ninety per cent of the people referred to the Mufti repented and went back to Islam. Why not we follow this method of counselling through persuasion instead of making it punitive to the point of creating resentment?

Q: What prompted you to undertake this research on the problem of apostasy in Malaysia? A: I found that under the classical Islamic law, apostasy is a serious punishable offence but it contradicted the notion of freedom of religion as enshrined in the Federal Constitution. And the court cases filed by Muslims seeking to renounce Islam also sparked my interest. I then decided to do a comparative analysis of Malaysia’s civil and Syariah laws on apostasy for my PhD thesis with the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. I submitted my thesis to the university last year.

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Police Release Raja Sherina's Photo; November 20, 2006 18:41 PM

IPOH, Nov 20 (Bernama) -- Police today released a photograph of "Raja Sherina" for publication by the press in efforts to trace the woman to assist their investigations into the dissemination of a short-messaging service (SMS) on the alleged mass baptism of Malays at a church here last Nov 5.

Perak Police Chief Datuk Abdul Aziz Bulat said police had to release the photograph of the woman, in her 40s believed to be from Sungai Petani, Kedah as she had failed to contact them despite being given ample time, since last Wednesday, to do so. "We believe the woman is in hiding and still in the country," he told reporters here Monday. He said police went to check on two locations at Sitiawan and Sungai Petani, where the woman was believed to be residing, but could not find her. Police had obtained the photograph of the woman, who is dark-skinned and wearing a black scarf in the picture, from a copy of a VCD handed over to them by the Perak Mufti Datuk Seri Harussani Zakaria, (BELOW) who had met her recently.

Harussani also handed over copies of the VCD to Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli Ghazali and the Islamic Development Department. Abdul Aziz urged members of the public who knew the woman or with information on her and her wherabouts to contact DSP Shahdan Ibrahim at telephone number 05-520 3966 or 05-245 1222 or the Perak Rakan Cop at 05-240 1999.
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See Previous posting and updates on:

MORE PICS- SMS About BAPTISM CEREMONY of “Muslims” at CHURCH Of Our Lady of LOURDES, IPOH; Several NGOs Found out “MUSLIMS” Were ACTUALLY Indians.