lina joy , 42 , was born azlina jailani to malay parents , and was identified as a protestant . malaysia ' s constitution guarantees freedom of religion , but by ordinance , all ethnic affirmative are muslim . joy converts to christianity at age 26 , and after some bureaucratic hurdles had her named legally changed in 1999 . nevertheless , on her mykad township id , the national identification department retained her stated religion as islam . in order to have her status shifted , the national clearance department said you would have to obtain a certificate of apostasy from the muslim sharia authority .
Lina Joy's parents are from Malaysia.