Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Islamic authorities rejected a proposal by Malaysia's prime minister that would have required non-Muslims to tell their families before converting to Islam.
The decision, announced Tuesday, was made at a meeting of Islamic authorities, according to Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abdul Aziz, director-general of the Malaysian Islamic Development Department.
The failure by many converts to inform their families of their conversion has led to many disputes. Islamic officials have sometimes seized bodies for Muslim funerals, while non-Muslim relatives insisted the deceased never converted.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that the government would soon require Muslim converts to produce documents showing they had told their family members.
The move was considered an attempt to calm ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities over perceived religious discrimination, which led to heavy losses for Abdullah's ruling National Front coalition in general elections last month.
Ethnic Chinese and Indians make up more than 30 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people and are mainly Buddhist, Christian and Hindu. They complain that court decisions in religious disputes favor Muslims _ who account for more than 60 percent and are mainly ethnic Malay.
Islam is the official Malaysian religion. Non-Muslims can practice their religion, but often lose out in interfaith disputes involving Islam.