Teoh Cheng Cheng’s family members and boyfriend pay their last respects at her funeral yesterday. Photo: Hasnoor Hussain / The Malaysian Insider
The woman whose funeral was interrupted by officers from the Pulau Pinang Islamic Religious Affairs Department (Jaipp) four days ago was finally given a Taoist funeral service as originally planned by her family.
The funeral took place three hours after the Penang Shariah Court ruled that Teoh Cheng Cheng, the 38-year old woman who was claimed to have converted to Islam 17 years ago, was a non-Muslim.
The court ruled that Cheng Cheng had never converted to Islam, as was alleged. The court came to the ruling based on accounts by the deceased boyfriend, Yazman Ayob (a Muslim) and her 17-yeard old daughter Medelyn Teoh of how she lived her life since 1997.
In 1997, Cheng Cheng had planned on converting to Islam and marry her Muslim boyfriend, but was not ready at the time and stopped short of reciting the “syahadah” (Islamic proclamation of faith).
Cheng Cheng’s mother, 64-year old Tan Mah Suan, was overcome with emotion when the ruling was passed, and thanked the media and elected officials who had helped bring her family’s predicament to light and assisted in resolving the issue, The Malaysian Insider‘s Looi Sue-Chern reports.
Yazman, who had been avoiding the media and attended the funeral wearing a face mask and sunglasses, only commented that the ordeal was “unfair” and that he felt “sorry for them (the family)”.
The Teoh family’s lawyers, headed by Ramkarpal Singh Deo, who is also DAP Bukit Gelugor MP, said Jaipp had acted with negligence when its officers “snatched” Cheng Cheng’s body without first confirming that she was in fact a Muslim.
“It could have been avoided if the department had done its homework,” Ramkarpal said.
“That points to negligence. It is something that we will look into.”
He added that the family will be advised on the legal options open to them at a later time, should they want to pursue the matter further.
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