Defiant Banggarma Shows Her Hindu Faith

From Free Malaysia Today:

S Banggarma, who was declared “a Muslim” by the Penang High Court on Aug 4, defied the Islamic authorities and demonstrated her Hindu belief by carrying “paal kudam” (pot of milk) at a temple festival here last Friday.

The mother of two offered her penance to Hindu goddess Mariamman at Sri Muthu Mariamman Kovil fire-walking festival in Dennis Town Estate in the morning together with hundreds of Hindu devotees.

She carried the paal kudam for a kilometre from nearby Sri Muneeswarar Kovil to Sri Muthu Mariamman Kovil seeking the divine’s blessing and intervention to help her overcome her battle with the Islamic authorities.

“I want to show to the world that I am a Hindu... no one has the right to change it. I will live and die a Hindu,” she told FMT later.

Judicial Commissioner Yaakob Sam declared in his 40-minute oral judgment that the 28-year-old mother of two was a Muslim and therefore would have to resolve her “unwitting conversion” dispute with the Syariah Court.

Banggarma, whose Muslim name is Siti Hasnah Vangarama Abdullah, instantly brushed aside the verdict as “unfair and unrealistic”.

Her lawyer Gooi Hsiao Leung has prepared documents to file an appeal soon against Yaacob’s decision at the Court of Appeal.

Banggarma is married to fisherman S Sockalingam in Tanjung Piandang, Perak, in 2000 and has two children -- Kanagaraj, nine, and Hisyanthini, three.

'Unwittingly converted'

Banggarma claimed that she was unwittingly converted by the state Islamic religious authorities at the age of seven while she was staying in a welfare home in Kepala Batas, Penang.

Banggarma’s birth certificate revealed that she was born a Hindu on Aug 13, 1982, in Keratong, Pahang, to plantation workers B Subramaniam and Latchumy Ramadu.

She fled the home with a few inmates when she was 16....