Get to root of the problem: Upko
Published on: Friday, February 12, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: Wanita Upko welcomed Wednesday's judgement by the Federal Court five-man bench led by Tan Sri Raus Sharif that civil courts had exclusive jurisdiction on issues pertaining to civil marriages and not the Syariah court. "Our stand on the this matter has been very clear since the days of our former President, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, whereby he had said it over and over that it is unreasonable for non-Muslims who married under non-Islamic laws to submit themselves to syariah court jurisdiction," said Upko Wanita Chief Datin Dr Jaina Sintian. However, she said, Wanita Upko still feels there is great injustice done as the issue of unilateral conversion of a child by one parent is still a subject for concern. Furthermore, Wanita Upko strongly believes the prolonged legal battle, at its core, is about the unilaterally converted children.
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"The Federal Court judgement in this particular case is far from a just decision for the mother and children. Once again the natural justice to a mother has been denied when the root cause of the problem, which is about the right of the unconverted non-Muslim mother in determining the religion of her minor, goes without a judgement by the esteemed judges. "We must remember these cases arose because one party had converted and unilaterally converts their children from their civil marriage without the consent and knowledge of the other parent. "Even though the Federal Court had decided that the custody of the children is to be decided by the Civil Courts, how would the civil courts consider who should have custody if children of the marriage had been unilaterally converted by one parent?
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"Surely religion of the children and the parents play an important consideration for the civil courts to decide which parent should get custody," she said.She added that even assuming the Civil Courts make a decision to give custody to the parent of different faith as the children, such ruling could create another public outcry and religious tension on the suitability of such parent raising the child in accordance with the teaching of the respective religion.
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"Would a Christian parent be seen as a proper parent to raise and instil the teaching of the Islamic faith towards a Muslim child? Can a Muslim parent instil the teaching of the Christian faith towards a Christian child? Surely any judge would find it difficult to ignore this fact." In Deepa's case, she said, not only the mother has been denied the right over her son but it appears now that the Hindu mother is vulnerable to state religious authority persecutions for having a Muslim child under her care, her daughter Sharmila or Nurul Nabila her given Muslim name.Jaina said all citizens deserve equal protection as guaranteed by the Constitution and in accordance with natural justice, the Federal Court should have ruled that the conversion of Deepa's children unilaterally by the estranged husband is null and void because not only was it unconstitutional but also went against natural justice because it was done without hearing the mother or children. It should be reminded that the civil High Court gave custody of both children to Deepa in 2014."One parent's consent is not and should not be suffice in child conversion cases, especially if the child is converted without knowledge of the other parent."We hope the Federal Court in Indira Ghandi's case take the opportunity to discuss and decide on the issue of unilateral conversion of the child in situations as in Deepa's case. If the Federal Court chooses not to decide on such issue then this recent Federal Court decision would be a half-baked conclusion," she said.She opined that the issue of unilateral conversion of children by one parent is a test to the Malaysian level of maturity as a society, a great test to the strength of the people's unity. That is why, she said, Wanita Upko also calls for the amendment on the law on unilateral conversion. "Let us not burden the courts to make interpretation of the law when it is unclear. We know the issues, we know the problems, why don't we take the initiative of presenting the solutions by amending the law to make it clearer and just to all.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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