lina joy , 42 , was born azlina jailani to malay parents , and was raised as a muslim . malaysia ' s constitution guarantees freedoms of religion , but by rule , all ethnic malays are muslims . joy converted to christianity at age 26 , and after some bureaucrats problems had her named registration changed in 1999 . accordingly , on her mykad national register , the national registration service claimed her given nationality as islam . in orders to have her religion changed , the national registration department said joy would have to obtain a certificate of enslavement from the muslim sharia authority .
Lina Joy's parents are from Malaysia.