olivia@nst.com.my
KOTA KINABALU: The High Court in Sabah and Sarawak has raised serious concerns over the National Registration Department’s (NRD) practice of assigning a person’s religion without proper factual or legal basis.
Judge Datuk Celestina Stuel Galid delivered her grounds of judgment yesterday after allowing an application by Abdul Manap Bakusai @ Abu Bakar and his three children to correct their National Registration Identity Card (MyKad) records to reflect their religion as Christian.
She accepted the plaintiffs’ evidence that they and their families, including their grandparents, had always practised Christianity and had never converted to Islam.
"The Court made it clear that this was not a case of the plaintiffs from Pitas renouncing Islam.
“The Court noted that documentary evidence, including identity records, baptism certificates and letters from churches, supported this position,” according to a statement, adding that the Court also allowed the application with no order as to costs.
She noted that the defendant provided no affidavit evidence explaining why the fourth plaintiff’s religion was recorded as Islam despite her application form stating otherwise.
Celestina described the situation as troubling, particularly as it involved illiterate applicants who relied on government officers for assistance.
She added that such actions went against the will of the applicants and had the effect of denying them their constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of religion under Article 11 of the Federal Constitution.
The Court also stated that the case involving the family from Pitas was not an isolated one.
Celestina referred to earlier judicial decisions, including *Satiah Simbunar v Sabah NRD Director* in 2022, in which then judicial commissioner Leonard Shim found that “Islam” had been wrongly inserted into an identity card based on assumptions made by registration officers.
Shim is now a judge of the Court of Appeal.
Another example cited was *Zulkifli Adirin v Sabah NRD Director* in 2021, where despite the applicants’ father expressly stating “Tiada” (none) for religion in the application forms, the NRD nonetheless registered the applicants as Muslims and recorded “Islam” in their MyKad details.
Celestina described it as “fundamentally wrong” for the NRD to determine an individual’s religion on its own, holding that the department had gone beyond its administrative role.
The Court further rejected the NRD’s position that religious determination should be left to the Syariah Court, while at the same time having determined the plaintiffs’ religion administratively.
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