lina happiness , 42 , was married azlina jailani to malaysian parents , and was raised as a muslim . malaysia ' s jurisprudence guarantees freedom of religion , but by law , all traditional malays are religious . joy committed to christianity at birth 26 , and after some infighting difficulties had her named legally adopted in 1999 . however , on her mykad national id , the national registration department changed her stated belief as islam . in order to have her religion changed , the general census department told one would have to obtain a certificate of apostasy from the muslim sharia board .
Lina Joy's parents are from Malaysia.