MCA’s religious harmony bureau welcomes the latest reassurance by Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz who was formerly the de facto law minister in his announcement that the Bill to amend the Law Reform (Marriages and Divorce) Act 1976 (LRA) set be tabled in the October Dewan Rakyat proceedings will resolve the issue of unilateral child conversions.

News reports of the prime minister’s announcement earlier were unclear on unilateral conversion focusing on a marriage contracted by civil law must only be dissolved by civil law. Hence, kudos to Nazri for clearing the air on the issue of getting a permanent solution to the contentious issue of unilateral conversion.

The LRA reforms are consistent with Nazri’s announcement in April 2009 that the cabinet has decided that should one parent embrace a new religion, the religion of minor children shall remain as that of the common religion of both parents at time of their marriage.

Nazri’s announcement offers a ray of hope to those seeking fairness and justice, particularly non-Muslims. With the upcoming law reforms, parents who were devastated as a result of their minor children like those of M Indira Gandhi and S Deepa being separated and taken away from them will now have a solution.

Aggrieved parents will be spared the frustration, shock and anguish of being separated from their minors or suddenly discovering that their children’s faith has suddenly being changed.

With legislative amendments made to prevent Islam being exploited by irresponsible parent, new converts will have to think twice before exploiting the law to run off to religious departments to convert the minor children without the knowledge or approval of their spouse.

The changes in the LRA will also uphold the image of Islam as a religion that uphold justice and fairness to all.

For minor children who want to remain in their original religion, the amendments will protect their religious status which currently hangs in limbo of personal convictions as a result of a formal conversion on the face of certificate issued.

In the meantime, our bureau also hopes that even prior to the LRA Bill’s tabling, religious departments will observe the spirit of the proposed reforms and will not immediately issue any certificate of conversion for minor children should they not receive any evidence of support or endorsement from the non-converting spouse.

‘Ibubapa’, not ‘ibu atau bapa’

Our bureau reiterates our party’s position that the religion of minor children must be determined by ‘ibubapa’ as originally described in the Perlembagaan Persekutuan. The G25 grouping has accurately pointed out that up till 2002, Article 12(4) of the Perlembagaan Persekutuan as published by Pencetakan Negara had stated that ‘ibubapa’, and that only in the 2002 version, the terminology was changed to ‘ibu atau bapa’ without going through Parliamentary amendments to the Federal Constitution.

Our Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak must be lauded for being firm and providing leadership in the name of fairness and justice without fear and favour. Thumbs up for the victory of the aspirations of 1Malaysia where inclusive policies seek to protect the religious rights of all above all.

TI LIAN KER is the MCA religious harmony bureau chairperson, MCA central committee member and Kuantan MCA division chairperson.