Malaysia drafting new laws to prevent religious conflicts

12 April, 2008

Non-Muslim groups in Malaysia have welcomed the government's bid to prevent religious conflicts among families by requiring converts to Islam to inform their relatives of the change.

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi says his government is drafting rules that would require new Muslims to tell their family.

The move follows a series of allegations of "body-snatching" by Islamic authorities, who are alleged to have seized remains for burial according to Muslim rites, against the objections of non-Muslim family members.

The proposed new rules are seen as an olive branch to Malaysia's minority ethnic Chinese and Indians, who are uneasy over rising "Islamisation" .