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By Husna Yusop

PUTRAJAYA (Nov 22, 2009) : Siti Hasnah Vangarama Abdullah, who was converted at the age of seven under the care of an orphanage in Kepala Batas, Penang, can seek the help of the syariah court to solve her predicament.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim said she can take her case to the syariah court to determine her status of religion.

"Although she holds a Muslim conversion certificate following her conversion, she can argue her case as she was not born a Muslim and, as she claimed, she has not been practising Islam," Mashitah told theSun today.

"This is not a case of seeking permission to change religion but seeking a decision on her status. The judge would study her case and decide whether she is Muslim or not."

Mashitah cited the case of Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah as similar to that of Siti Hasnah, whose original name is S. Banggarma.

It was reported on Friday that Banggarma, 27, has been married for eight years but could not register her marriage because she was listed as a Muslim while her husband is a Hindu.

She claimed she has been practising Hinduism all this while although she was converted to Islam while at the Rumah Kanak-Kanak Taman Bakti in December 1989.

She said she ran away from the home when she was 16 but did not take along any documents with her.

When she wanted to get married at the age of 18, she went back to the home to collect her documents and was given the Muslim certificate.

In Siti Fatimah’s case, in May last year, she was declared no longer a Muslim by the Syariah High Court, which also ordered the Penang Islamic Religious Council to cancel her certificate of conversion to Islam.

Siti Fatimah, 39, whose Chinese name is Tan Ean Huang, converted to Islam in July 1998 to marry an Iranian in 1999 but did not practise its teachings.

She said he left her a few months after their marriage and she later maintained her Buddhist leanings.

Mashitah said while it was commendable for the orphanage to take the initiative to preach about Islam and convert Banggarma to Islam, it was also its responsibility to teach her about the religion.

"It should be followed with the efforts to bring her up according to true Islamic teachings and way of life," she said.

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