It is being heralded as a landmark case that will affect future conversion cases involving minors, as well as that involving custody of children who have been converted to Islam.

Regardless of outcome, the case puts to test Malaysia's two-pronged judicial system that has the civil court and, for Muslims, a Syariah Court system.

For the parties involved in the S Shamala vs M Jeyaganesh, (also known as Muhammad Ridzwan) case however, it has been an emotional and traumatic battle that has split families and scarred its players.

Shamala's parents for instance are longing to see the return of their eldest daughter with their grandsons to their home in Alor Setar.

Shamala is now living in Australia and is not in attendance for this case.

Her youngest sibling 31-year-old Dr Sharinalam, who was in court with the parents, said the eight-year legal battle has taken its toll.

"My father has undergone bypass surgery and my mother is tense. As Mother's Day approaches next week, she harbours hopes that one day her daughter will return," Sharinalam said after court proceedings.

"We have been in communication through emails and telephone with Shamala. However, she is living in fear for herself and the status of her children. She hopes the courts will provide some answers," he said.

Sharinalam said they had wanted to settle the matter amicably but could not do so after a conflict of jurisdiction cropped up as a result of a Syariah High Court ruling issuing a warrant of arrest against Shamala for not coming to court.

"Being a non-Muslim, the Syariah Court has no jurisdiction on her, and hence she cannot appear. Yet she faces arrest. That is why she is afraid," he said.

The warrant of arrest was the result of Shamala's refusal to give visitation and custody rights to her husband.

Sharinalam said his sister was concerned over guardianship rights when her husband embraced Islam.

Court has five questions to answer

All Shamala's father wants is to see the five questions posed to the Federal Court answered.

He admits he misses his daughter and grandsons and has been longing to see them. "However, we understand her predicament as she is faced with the court action and uncertainty," he said.

Shamala's mother, who declined to give her name, is Chinese by origin. She said as a mother she naturally understood the anguish her daughter was going through. "I have missed my daughter for so long. I am a mother and as one, I understand her feelings and bond with the children."

"We have been emotionally and mentally traumatised as a result of this case. All we want is justice for my daughter and grandsons," she said in tears.

Jeyaganesh, father of the two children in question, wants to set the record straight that it was not he who had left his family, pointing the finger at his in-laws whom he claims helped take the children away from him.

He said Shamala had made passports for the two children sometime in 2003.

Jeyaganesh: allegations untrue

Jeyaganesh, who is an anaesthesist by profession, said the allegation that he had tried to run away with the children were untrue.

He said his wife had left their house in Dec 2002, and there was no basis to claims that he was trying to run away with the children.

"It is very easy to find me as I am working here, I will not run away. However, I have longed to see my two children," he said.

He also told Malaysiakini that religious authorities have tried to advise Shamala but she claimed otherwise. Jeyaganesh said Shamala declined two ustaz who sought her to give their advice.

When asked if he would consider taking Shamala back if she returned, Jeyaganesh said this was something difficult for him to answer.

"She has to convert first. If she does not want to convert, how then?" he said, adding the case had been taxing for him during the early years.

Jeyaganesh revealed that he was now legally married to another, after the Syariah Court granted him a divorce in 2004. His now has a daughter and a son from his second marriage.

But he still misses his children with Shamala. "All I want is to see and get the children back," he said, adding that the last he saw them was in early 2004.

His counsel Muralee Menon claims what has been raised today was nothing new, citing the Federal Court who had in an earlier case ruled that either parent has the right to convert their children.