Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Thursday his government was drafting rules that would require new converts to Islam to tell their family.

The move follows a series of allegations of 'body-snatching' by Islamic authorities, who have seized remains for burial according to Muslim rites, against the objections of non-Muslim family members.

A. Vaithilingam, president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism, hailed the proposals, which would require converts to fill out a form declaring they had told their family.

'This is a positive first step in ensuring that our laws and system of administration are not abused by those wanting to avoid their obligations to their loved ones by converting to Islam,' Mr Vaithilingam said.

'We hope that, among other things, this will end the unseemly and heart wrenching disputes during times of bereavement.'

Christian Federation of Malaysia chairman, Bishop Paul Tan said, 'We welcome this move,' but he cautioned that it was 'important to be clear about what kind of proof will be needed' to prove conversion.

'We feel the document of proof must be in black and white to be issued by the Syaria (Islamic) office,' he said, adding that when the conversion was announced, 'the non-converted spouse has to decide to convert or not.

'If not, the situation of the family, (such as) the dissolution of the marriage, must take place in the civil court, not the Syaria court.'

In many instances, family disputes over whether or not a deceased loved one had converted has been decided by Syaria courts, where non-Muslims say they do not get a fair hearing.

The proposed new rules are seen as an olive branch to Malaysia's minority ethnic Chinese and Indians who are uneasy over rising 'Islamisation' and have turned away from the government, which is dominated by Muslim Malays. -- AFP