Malaysia to ease religious tension over conversions

Malaysia will soon require new converts to Islam to notify family members of their change in faith after a controversial conversion case stoked religious tensions in the mostly Muslim nation, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Thursday.

Non-Muslims have complained that Islamic authorities snatched bodies of dead relatives, denying them their funeral rights. The authorities argued that they intervened because the dead were Muslims. Such disputes have raised fears the authorities are trampling on the religious rights of the sizeable minority Chinese and Indians, who are Buddhists, Hindus or Christians.

Abdullah, seeking to rebuild popular support after last month's election debacle, said the new ruling would help avoid problems when converts died.

"We do not want the religious department saying the deceased was a Muslim but the family members disputing it because he or she converted on the quiet," the state Bernama news agency quoted Abdullah as telling reporters.

Politically dominant ethnic Malay Muslims form about 60 percent of Malaysia's population of roughly 26 million.

The opposition won a record number of seats in parliament at the March 8 elections, dealing the ruling National Front coalition the biggest setback in its 50-year reign and spelling trouble for Abdullah's future leadership.