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Religious conversion of minors needs urgent attention

COMMENT Wanita MCA rebukes the recommendation by Musa Awang, president of the Malaysian Syariah Lawyers Association, that unilaterally converted minors may apply to the syariah court to declare that they are no longer Muslims.

Such an application to the syariah court will only further jeopardise the non-Muslim status of a minor who was converted to Islam without his/her knowledge or against his/her will.

For a minor child converted on paper by his muallaf (newly converted) parent to seek redress in the syariah court at the age of 18 years is self-defeatist, as such an action will only serve to self-reconfirm his/her religious status as a Muslim.

As observed in the cases of the children of Indira Gandhi ( photo ) - S Deepa, Subahishini and Syamala - their religious status as Muslims in the conversion certificates is fiercely contested by the non-converting spouse.

The fates of these minor children will be permanently sealed should the syariah court declare them as Muslims.

Consequences for murtad intents

Wanita MCA is also aware that it is close to impossible for any muallaf (whether the conversion was carried out willingly, or without a choice by parents, or arbitrary declaration by a convert sibling, as was the case in January 2008 involving the disputed conversion of Gan Eng Gor) to renounce Islam as there are reformatory classes to attend and even penalties imposed. The gravity of this varies according to the different State Enactments.

Unreported to the press, the Negeri Sembilan Syariah Court judgment in the Nyonya Tahir case of 2006 even cited that “sebahagian besar ulama’ menyenaraikan kesalahan murtad ini sebagai satu daripada kesalahan hudud yang dikenakan hukuman mati.” (A large number of ulama have listed apotasy as an offence under hudud that is punishable with death.)

We recall the case of Revathi Masoosai ( photo ) who, despite being born to Muslim convert parents, was raised thoroughly as a Hindu by her grandmother.

However, in 2007, against her will, Revathi was detained for six months at the Pusat Pemurnian Akidah Baitul Iman, Ulu Yam Baru, to reform her faith in Islam as ordered by the Malacca Syariah Court.

Revathi is reported to have claimed that the centre’s enforcers had forced her to don the ‘tudung’ and eat beef – meat which Hindus are averse to.

Both parents must have equal say

Wanita MCA reiterates our party’s consistent position that the religion of a minor must be determined equally by both the father and mother. Should there be a dispute, the religion of the child during his/her birth remains as status quo, whereupon the child is entitled to select his or her religion upon reaching the age of 18 years.

Indira Gandhi’s former husband converted their children after the April 2009 cabinet decision that a child’s religion shall remain as the common religion professed during the parents’ marriage.

Thus, Wanita MCA implores that laws be introduced to render null and void any unilateral conversion of a minor child to Islam, or to any other religion, by a single spouse as Indira Gandhi’s case clearly shows that without any laws enacted, the cabinet decision is not implementable should individuals and state religious authorities defy the executive.

We also urge the religious departments of all the states to adhere to the April 2009 cabinet decision and therefore not simply issue any conversion certificates for minor children when only one spouse is present.

For the avoidance of doubt, the religious authority must contact the non-converting spouse on the intentions of his/her muallaf spouse to officially convert their children.

Both parents must be present during the conversion procedures, while the state religious department must also obtain the written approval from the non-converting spouse for their minor children to embrace Islam.

Perhaps all states should learn from Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Mohamad Hasan, who in February 2015 proposed that the Negeri Sembilan government would compel married non-Muslims wanting to embrace Islam to formally divorce his/her spouse and make a statutory declaration first.

The Negeri Sembilan MB explained that this move was to ensure only those genuinely interested to convert, and “will be fair to the family as the convert is still responsible for his/her non-Muslim spouse and children after he embraces Islam (The Star, Feb 12, 2015)”.


HENG SEAI KIE is the national chaiperson of Wanita MCA and Adviser on National Unity & Integration in the Prime Minister’s Department.

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