May 11 decision on single mom Loh's bid to quash children's unilateral conversion

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has set May 11 for the decision of a judicial review application by a single mother, Loh Siew Hong, to challenge the unilateral conversion to Islam of her three children without her consent by her ex-husband.

Judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh fixed the date after hearing submissions via Zoom proceedings from the parties involved.

Lawyer A. Srimurugan, representing Loh, submitted that there was no dispute by the respondents that the children - all of whom were minors - were indeed converted without the woman's consent.

He said as this fact was established, the only live issue before the court was on the legal status of such conversion.

The lawyer cited the case of Indira Gandhi vs the Perak Islamic Religious Affairs Department director where the Federal Court made a ruling that the unilateral conversion of minors to Islam was illegal.

Meanwhile, Perlis state legal adviser Mohd Radhi Abas submitted that the correct interpretation of the word "parent" in Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution had meant for either the mother or father.

Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution stated that the religion of a person under the age of eighteen years shall be decided by his or her parent or guardian.

He said there were 13 provisions in the Constitution where the word parent or parents were used and these words must be differentiated.

"The Parliament had carefully used the word 'parent' in the singular or 'parents' in the plural in the Constitution. The Constitution was passed by Parliament, and echoing the words of (the late Chief Justice) Tun Abdul Hamid Omar, the court is not Parliament," he said.

He further stressed that the difference between the words parent and parents was not discussed in the 2018 Indira Gandhi case.

"Under the separation of powers, the right to legislate falls on Parliament. With the highest respect, the court should take it as it is," he said.

On Aug 1 last year, the High Court here allowed an application for a judicial review by Loh to challenge the action by her ex-husband, M. Nagahswaran, in registering their three children as Muslim converts without her consent.

The single mother is seeking a declaration that her three children are Hindus and that her ex-husband did not have the legal capacity to allow the Perlis State Registrar of Converts to register the children as converts without her consent.

The three children, who were then under the care of the Social Welfare Department, were released to Loh last Feb 21 after the High Court allowed her habeas corpus application.

-- BERNAMA