The cabinet has agreed to enact new laws to solve the unilateral conversion conundrum like in the case of M Indira Gandhi, said Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam.

"The government will take steps, including to enact laws, but it all depends on relevant constitutional amendments," he told a press conference in Putrajaya today.

"The government will bring this matter up with the attorney-general and then to Parliament to be debated before the amendments can be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat sitting in March," he added.

Subramaniam, who is also MIC president, said the government is looking for a holistic solution to the issue and will gather all relevant information and feedback, including from the Interfaith Council set up in 2009 which has thus far failed to solve the matter.

The minister is part of a three-member committee set up to look into these cases. Others in the committee are Culture and Tourism Minister Mohd Nazri Aziz and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom.

Last week, contention over the guardianship of the children of Indira and her ex-husband K Pathmanathan@Muhammad Riduan Abdullah ( photo ) went south for the mother when the Court of Appeal declared that the matter of the validity of the conversion certificates is the exclusive purview of the Syariah Courts, outside of the ambit of the civil courts.

The decision was seen as a victory for the Perak and federal religious authorities, Perak registrar of conversions, the Education Department and her ex-husband who challenged the earlier High Court decision to quash the conversion certificates' validity.

However, the decision also drew flak from various quarters, for example former law minister Zaid Ibrahim who described the judges as heartless.

Following this, Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria urged the public to read the judgments before condemning or criticising the judges.

BN parties such as MCA and Gerakan also expressed concern and called for more concrete steps to be put in place to avoid such controversies.

Meanwhile, de facto Law Minister Nancy Shukri reportedly said that she hoped Putrajaya will be ready to table the necessary legal amendments during the first official Dewan Rakyat session in March.

“I just hope that we are ready to table it by then. I really want to see it through too.

“There are so many Bills awaiting to be tabled. They are still consulting the relevant agencies in order to complete the whole process,” Nancy was quoted as saying by the The Malay Mail Online .

Nancy said the relevant agencies like the Islamic body in the Federal Territories are still being consulted, as the federal government plans amendments to the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976, the Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Act 1993 and the Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) Act 1984.

These amendments, she said, were to ensure that issues like child custody, alimony and division of marital assets are resolved in the court in which one’s marriage was registered.