Two DAP leaders claim that the BN government has back-tracked on its commitment to resolve the conflict and uncertainty over conversion and custody matters by amending the Marriage and Divorce Act 1976.

Party national labour bureau chief A Sivanesan earlier this week related to Malaysiakini the mental anguish that the relatives and family members had suffered after the deaths of the husbands who had covertly converted to Islam. 

corpse snatching general hospital case 301106 a sivanesan

Sivanesan's ( right ) first such case was M Moorthy one of the two Malaysians to have scaled Mt Everest and who had died in 2005 when the Selangor Religious Department had attempted to claim the body for a Muslim burial.

However, Moorthy's widow P Kaliammal took the case to the High Court represented by Sivanesan.

But the High Court ruled that under Section 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution the High Court in Malaya or the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak shall have no jurisdiction in respect of any matter under the jurisdiction of the syariah courts.

Now the case is coming up for hearing at the Court of Appeal on March 30.

According to Sivanesan, in 2005 then prime minister Abdullah Badawai had said in a statement that a solution to the matter will be found.

Where one case went wrong

Then another conversion controversy broke out in 2006 when Rayappan, a Christian, died in Kuala Lumpur Hospital which attracted Sivanesan's attention because the Selangor Religious Department wanted to bury the body according to Muslim rites.

I rayappan lawyers press conference 071206 lawyers t lost the case when Sivanesan proved that the deceased had been a Christian all along and now the department is facing a RM10 million suit in the Shah Alam High Court.

Sivanesan cited yet another case handed by K Shanmuga on Dec 27, 2007 where the mother R. Subashini was engaged in a legal battle to get custody of her two children and a divorce from her husband Saravanan who had converted to Islam.

According to Shanmuga, the court battle went up to the Federal Court for an injunction to stop Saravanan from converting the two children but Subashini lost her case.

According to Sivanesan, the BN government only woke up to the conversion and custody dilemma faced by parents when kindergarten teacher Indira Gandhi's children custody case with her husband K Pathamanathan @ Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, 41, was highlighted in the media in March 2008.

DAP leader national vice-chairman M Kulasegaran said that in April last year, the Cabinet issued a directive that children should be raised in the religion at the time of marriage should one of the parents were to later convert to another religion.

Kula said, "The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz had then announced that the cabinet had decided that children of parents, where one has opted to convert, must be raised in the common religion at the time of marriage."

According to Kula, had Nazri reportedly said that even if a spouse had converted to Islam, the person would still need to fulfil his or her marriage responsibilities according to civil laws.

Talk, talk, still no action

He was also quoted as saying that the cabinet, too, had instructed the attorney-general to look into all the relevant laws that need to be amended.

Eleven months later but nothing concrete has been done to translate the cabinet decision into laws.

Kula suggests the setting up of Family Courts to speedily and effectively resolve matters of such nature.

"The lack of speed in setting up such courts has caused much agony and pain to the affected families, including their children," he said.

Meanwhile, Sivanesan claimed that the cabinet was supposed to debate amending the Marriage and Divorce Act 1976 after sending the recommendations to the Council of Rulers for a decision.

But the Council had forwarded them to their respective religious departments for feedback with no progress since then, said Sivanesan.

He hopes that the March 15 Parliament sitting will debate this important matter, that will help strengthen inter-religious understanding among the various races in the country.