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PRESS STATEMENT : MHS Saddened By Confiscation Of Body.
The Malaysia Hindu Sangam (MHS) is gravely disturbed to understand that the body of a deceased man, a practicing Hindu, has not been released to his wife and family for final rites. MHS is informed that the body is being retained by the Serdang Hospital mortuary upon the interference by Islamic Authorities, who have claimed that the deceased is a Muslim.Mr Amaran was killed in a road accident on 15th February 2009, and his body was sent to the Serdang Hospital for post-mortem. His wife, Valarmathi, was shocked when informed by the hospital mortuary that her late husband’s body could not be released to her for Hindu funeral rites, as the authorities had laid claim to his body for Islamic burial rites instead.
His family maintains that Amaran has been a practicing Hindu all his life. He was married according Hindu ceremonial rites, and his marriage was also recorded in the Civil Registry as him being a Hindu. His children are also registered as Hindus. The family has explained to MHS that when Amaran changed his identity card to the new MyKad, the National Registration Department had erroneously listed his religion as Muslim, when in actual fact he was a practicing Hindu. He had notified the department of this at the time.
This situation is most disturbing and goes against the grain of the spirit of dialogue that has been ongoing between MHS and ACCIN (the Allied Coordinating Committee of Islamic NGOs). This dialogue has been aimed at overcoming conflicting situations such as this from arising, as has been experienced in several prior incidents.
The MHS strongly urges the authorities to immediately release the body of the deceased to the wife and family, so that they may be able to placate their grief on their loss, by completing the necessary funeral rites.
Let the family be at peace. The true spirit of Muhibbah must prevail.
Dated 17th February 2009
Datuk A Vaithilingam
President
Malaysia Hindu Sangam
So, there will be a rush to check our MyKad using Astro decoder dish. Unless some sordid secret life of the deceased appears, it appears that for all purposes and intent, the deceased is an Hindu.
What the family should do now is get an court order to stop any body snatching and then get some documentation from Registration Dept showing that the error in religion was highlighted prior to his death. I find it ridiculous that just based on the MyKad the so called “authorities” can claim the body. What about proof of conversion? Is there any document in the state religious departments? Are there any witnesses to his conversion? Or was he actually born as a Muslim but the truth hidden from everyone.
I had heard one case where the deceased was a convert (happened in university due to love). But the guy hid the truth from everyone except his mother. The mother married him off to a Hindu lady and they had a kid. When they went to register the baby, the truth came out that her beloved husband was a Muslim. The wife was forced to convert to Islam in order to keep the children (someone misled her at that time). All the children are now muslims and one of them is getting married to a Malay. The mockery of it is that they don’t practise any of the Islamic tenets. Name only muslim, but the lady goes to temple and wears her Thali.
