Lawyer Siti Kasim has slammed what she believes to be the victimisation of children on the issue of whether or not out-of-wedlock children can bear their biological father's surname.

"It is the right of every child to get love and affection from both the mother and the father. He or she has the right to be brought up in a cool, loving and accepting environment.

"Sadly, justice seems to have pervaded the illegitimate children in our country due to these so-called defenders of Islam and for no mistake of their own," Siti said in a Facebook post today.

She was responding to the Syariah Lawyers Association of Malaysia, which said it will intervene if the National Registration Department (NRD) appeals to the Federal Court on the landmark ruling by the Court of Appeal to allow out-of-wedlock children to use their biological father’s name as their surname.

The association was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times that it would submit an application to be an intervener or observer in the proceeding and present its findings on how the ruling will cause problems in marriage and inheritance.

However, Siti pointed out that the ongoing case was a civil court proceeding.

'It is scaring Muslims, non-Muslims'

"Don't these people realise how they sound like? They are so set in their thinking of what Islam should be, that it is scaring even Muslims, what more non-Muslims.

"First and foremost, this is a civil court proceeding. Our learned judges have interpreted the laws under which NRD is obliged to follow and it is clearly not a fatwa."

The lawyer stressed that a person cannot be given punishment for a crime he or she did not commit.

"The legislature has been uninvolved in this topic before, but now our courts have remedied it.

"It will not be wrong to say that it is truly ironic that these people, who are supposed to dismantle aberrations and confusion and promote the beauty of Islam and help to improve the status of illegitimate children, are trying their hardest to destroy their future," Siti said.

Citing the view of Islamic scholars on the matter, Siti said some are of the view that if the father wants to attribute his out-of-wedlock child to himself, then the child should be attributed to him.

"(So) why are you burdening these children for the sins of their parents?" she asked.

The Court of Appeal recently ruled to allow a seven-year-old child conceived out of wedlock to bear the father's surname.

It found that a National Fatwa Committee edict on the matter was not legally binding.

However, the NRD said it would not abide by the appellate court's decision pending an appeal, despite the absence of a stay of execution.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Saturday that Muslims must unite against individuals or "different legal systems" that opposed the fatwa committee's edicts.

Former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram said that with their responses, both the NRD and Zahid may have committed contempt of court.