Malaysian minorities uneasy after court order on Indian's burial

Malayasia's minority communities on Thursday said they feel threatened after an ethnic Indian was buried under Islamic rites upon orders by the High Court despite pleas by his widow for a Hindu cremation and urged the Prime Minister to ensure their rights are protected.

In a press conference held in Kuala Lumpur by various organisations including those of Indian, Chinese, Sikh and Buddhist communities, the minority leaders said they feel uneasy, uncomfortable and threatened in this multi-racial country after the incident.

Kaliammal Sinnasamy, who also addressed the media, said the court order that her husband M Moorthy be buried under Islamic rituals "shocked" her. "I was so shocked. I could not believe it. My husband lay in coma and I was given a letter that he was a muslim and in the event of his death he had to be buried," Kaliammal Sinnasamy told reporters. Kaliammal had gone to the High Court after she could not take her husband's body for a Hindu cremation. She was told a day before he died, that Moorthy, a former army man, had converted to Islam a year ago.

"My husband is dying. Am I to look after him or look for proof about his convertion?'' She asked. The High Court on Wednesday said that it could not overrule a decision by the Shariah court and later in the afternoon Moorthy, 36, was buried under Islamic rites.

Rev Wong Kim Kong, Secretary General of the National Evangilical Christian Fellowship and other minority community leaders urged Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to ensure that minority rights were protected.