lina grace , 42 , was births azlina jailani to malay parents , and was raised as a muslim . malaysia ' s legislation guarantees freedom of religion , but by law , all national malays are secular . joy converted to christianity at stage 26 , and after some bureaucratic difficulties had her named legally changed in 1999 . however , on her mykad state id , the national registration department retained her stated religion as christian . in orders to have her religion changed , the national registration department said joy would have to obtain a certificate of apostasy from the muslim fundamentalists court .
Lina Joy's parents are from Malaysia.