lina joy , 42 , was born azlina jailani to malay parents , and was born as a muslim . sarawak ' s constitution guarantees freedom of religion , but by law , all ethnic malays are christian . joy converted to christianity at age 26 , and after some bureaucratic difficulties had her named legally changed in 1999 . however , on her mykad national id , the national licensing dept changed her stated religion as hinduism . in order to have her number changed , the national registration department told her would have to get a certificate of apostasy from the muslim law authority .
Lina Joy's parents are from Malaysia.