PARLIAMENT | In a heated and impassioned speech, M Kula Segaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) took the government to task for dropping provisions that would have banned unilateral conversion of a child by one parent.

Pointing to the public gallery where Tevi Darsiny - the 19-year-old daughter of Indira Gandhi, who was unilaterally converted to Islam by her father - sat, Kula Segaran told ministers in the Dewan Rakyat to explain to her what her religious status was.

"You stand up now and tell her, is she Muslim or Hindu? 

"(She asks) please tell me what religion I am', because, in 2009, you gave her an assurance.

"If that is your daughter or your sister what would you do?" the DAP lawmaker asked ministers across the aisle.

Among the ministers that were in the house were Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam, Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan, and Minister in charge of Law Azalina Othman Said.

Kula Segaran - who was Indira Gandhi's lawyer - added that Tevi Darsiny's tears would have been cured by Parliament, but that is not the case now.

Tevi Darsiny and her two younger siblings were secretly converted to Islam by their father Muhammad Riduan Abdullah in 2009.

Their conversions, as well as that of S Deepa's children, sparked years' long debate on how to stop one single parent from unilaterally changing the religions of children.

That solution was in sight when the government tabled the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act (amendment) Bill (LRA), which had provisions to ban unilateral conversion.

However, this provision, outlined under Section 88A of the Bill was taken out by the government when it withdrew the LRA and re-tabled it on Tuesday.

Kula Segaran had submitted a motion that same day to put Section 88A back into the bill.

However, this bid was quashed by Lower House speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia on technical grounds during the LRA debate tonight.

Deputy speaker Ismail Mohamad Said read out Pandikar's ruling.

Among the reasons cited was that the amendment was not to a provision that is in the bill, and as such a fresh motion should have been submitted to add the provision instead.

Kula Segaran later said that the decision was disappointing, and had gone against promises the government made in 2009.

"You have sinned them!" he said.

During his speech, he among others, argued about how the word parent in Article 12 (4) of the Federal Constitution should be read as plural and not singular.

Article 12 (4) states that" the religion of a person under the age of eighteen years shall be decided by his parent or guardian."

Disagreements on whether the word parent is plural or singular is cited as one of the reasons why section 88A of the LRA may be unconstitutional.

The government has argued that it would need a two-thirds majority to amend the Constitution, but that it doesn't trust the opposition to support the move.