PETALING JAYA: Welcoming the court ruling that quashed the unilateral conversion of three children to Islam, Wanita MCA calls for legislative updates to permanently resolve future disputes.
Wanita MCA national chairman Wong You Fong said the most practical and feasible solution is to start from the legislative level by updating two laws – the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act and the Malay version of the Federal Constitution.
“Insert Article 88A into the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act to stipulate that, where the party to a marriage has converted to Islam, the religion of any child of the marriage shall remain as the religion of the parties to the marriage prior to the conversion, except where both parties to the marriage agree to a conversion of the child to Islam, subject always to the wishes of the child where he or she has attained the age of 18 years.
“Article 12(4) in the Malay version of the Federal Constitution, the Perlembagaan Persekutuan must be amended to read ‘ibubapa’, meaning the consent of both parents is required instead of ‘ibu atau bapa’ (father or mother) as presently published,” she said in a statement yesterday.
Wong was commenting on the Court of Appeal’s decision on Wednesday to quash the unilateral conversion of single mother Loh Siew Hong’s three children to Islam, that the conversion by her ex-husband was null and void.
A three-judge panel chaired by Justice Hadhariah Syed Ismail also ruled that the Perlis state law, which states that a child can be unilaterally converted, is unconstitutional.
Wong, who is a lawyer, said the decision by the Appellate Court meant that the original religion of Loh’s young children as Hindus was restored as shown on their birth certificates.
“This ruling also upholds Loh’s constitutional rights as a mother to determine the religion of her minor children.
“Wanita MCA welcomes the unanimous ruling by the Court of Appeal on Jan 10,” she said.
Wong noted that Wanita MCA remains consistent in its stand on objecting the unilateral conversion of minors by either parent.
“During the 2023 Wanita MCA annual general meeting, among the resolutions passed was to call on the government to form a special committee tasked with working with religious authorities in Malaysia to introduce a new mechanism to uphold the legal rights of minors and prevent the misuse of unilateral conversion as per Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution.
“This issue continues to persist,” she said.
Successive MCA and Wanita MCA leaders have also always taken a firm stand and practical actions pushing for reforms on issues involving religion, she said.“In addition to focusing on legislative reforms on religious matters, Wanita MCA has established the Legal Advisory and Women’s Aid (Lawa) Centre in 2014 to provide legal consultation and assistance for women.
“These include consultation for single parents who are caught in a dilemma over the religious status of their minor children and other forms of assistance,” she added.
