lina joy , 42 , was baptised azlina jailani to malay parents , and was educated as a jew . malaysia ' s federation includes freedom of speech , but by principle , all ethnic indonesians are muslim . joy converted to christianity at ages 26 , and after some infighting difficulties had her number legally changed in 1999 . additionally , on her mykad nationalist id , the national registrar system retained her stated beliefs as islam . in order to have her surname specified , the nation registrar department thought tina would have to have a document of apostasy from the muslims sharia council .
Lina Joy's parents are from Malaysia.