I read Arbibi Ashoy's defence of the judge's decision in the conversion case with great interest. I never looked at the matter in that way. Everything the writer says makes sense. However, he or she neglects to point out the one thing that makes this decision a disaster in Malaysia.

In this country of ours, the path leading to Islam is a one-way street. There is no return route in any legal sense. So the poor children whose future have been so brilliantly decided upon by the judge will have no recourse if they grow up and decide that the judge decided wrongly for them when they were young.

They, and not the judge, will then have to forcibly follow a faith not of their own choice for the rest of their lives. Can our society allow a judge to make that kind of irreversible decision ?

In case any theologian hastens to write that Islam itself prescribes punishment for those who turn away from the faith, allow me to point out that in most other countries, no one faces any problem when leaving Islam.

In those countries, they have correctly interpreted the teachings of Islam to mean that leaving a true faith of God will bring upon spiritual punishment and not worldly punishment.

The matter then is left to God to decide and judge in the hereafter.