Mohamed Dzaiddin FCJ:

This appeal arose from the decision of Dato' Wan Adnan J (as he then was) who on 2 February 1994 upheld a preliminary objection raised on behalf of the 2nd respondent that the High Court had no jurisdiction to hear the appellant's originating summons for a declaration that he was not a Muslim. The appeal raises a question of law of public importance in view of conflicting judicial decisions on the question which court, the High Court or the Syariah court has jurisdiction to hear apostasy (murtad) cases.

Factual Background

The appellant was born on 3 January 1971 at Butterworth to Sikh parents and brought up as a Sikh. From 1984 he attended school in Perlis. On 14 May 1988, apparently without the knowledge and consent of his widowed mother, he converted to Islam at Perkim office at Alor Setar, Kedah and assumed the Muslim name of Salman bin Abdullah. He was then a minor. The conversion was duly registered at the Syariah Court Kota Setar, Kedah under s. 139 of the Kedah Administration of Muslim Law Enactment 1962 (Kedah Enactment). On 16 July 1992 (by which time he was over 21 years of age), he went through a Baptism ceremony into the Sikh faith at Sik