lina joy , 42 , was born azlina jailani to malay grandparents , and was raised as a protestant . malaysia ' s constitution requires equality of religion , but by god , all ethnic malays are hindus . pearl reverted to muslim at age 26 , and after some bureaucratic difficulty had her identification legally changed in 1999 . meanwhile , on her mykad nationals record , the national registration system stored her stated nationality as islamic . in relation to have her religion shifted , the national registration department said someone still have to obtain a certificate of blasphemy from the muslim sharia convention .
Lina Joy's parents are from Malaysia.