Secret conversion: Preacher appeals TikTok video removal order

Summary

• Preacher Firdaus Wong seeks to quash Dec 3 High Court ruling for him to take down a TikTok video allegedly advising on the secret conversion of non-Muslim children.

• The civil court issued the order to maintain status quo pending disposal of a lawsuit by non-Muslim parents against Firdaus.

Firdaus Wong has appealed against a civil court order for him to take down a TikTok video that allegedly advised on the secret conversion of non-Muslim children.

The preacher’s appeal targets a Dec 3 Kuala Lumpur High Court ruling for him to remove the social media video, pending disposal of a suit by several non-Muslim parents.

The parents’ counsel M Visvanathan said they were served copies of the appeal notice today.

“They (Firdaus’ lawyers) filed (the notice of appeal to the Court of Appeal) on Jan 2. They served the sealed copy (to us) today,” he told Malaysiakini.

Previously, Firdaus removed the TikTok video to comply with an earlier Oct 3 High Court ruling to remove it.

His appeal is against the Dec 3 order, when the civil court still directed him to keep the video offline after hearing his arguments against this.

The October ruling was a ruling issued ex-parte (without Firdaus being present in court), while the December ruling was issued after Firdaus’ legal team presented arguments against any issuance of the injunction.

The parents are suing Firdaus to permanently take down the TikTok video which allegedly advised children to secretly embrace Islam.

Controversial clip

In June, Firdaus was alleged to have uploaded a video on TikTok showing him advising a man on how to handle requests from teenagers on converting to Islam.

The video purportedly showed the controversial preacher engaged in a question-and-answer session at an event.

For the record, there was a misconception linking the session to Firdaus advising a teacher, which raised concerns among non-Muslims about their teenagers in national schools, leading to calls to bar the preacher from entering schools.

However, the session did not involve a teacher but rather a writer and TikTok influencer.

Firdaus was allegedly asked what should be done when underage non-Muslim teenagers want to convert to Islam.

He purportedly said that teenagers should be welcomed to convert to Islam, but their conversions cannot be registered or announced.

He also allegedly shared advice on how these teenagers can practise Islam secretly so they can conceal it from others.

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