Perlis law on unilateral conversion to Islam constitutional, court told
Published on: Tuesday, March 21, 2023
By:
FMT, Ho Kit Yen
Single mother Loh Siew Hong is asking the High Court to strike down a Perlis state enactment which allows unilateral conversions into Islam on the grounds of unconstitutionality.
Kuala Lumpur: The Perlis government told the High Court here today there was nothing wrong with a state enactment which allows unilateral conversions into Islam.
State legal adviser Radhi Abas said the 2017 state assembly had passed an amendment to section 117 of the Administration of the Religion of Islam Enactment, which states that the consent of either father, mother or guardian was sufficient to allow a child to be converted into Islam.
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In the case of single mother Loh Siew Hong, who is seeking to quash her three children’s conversion into Islam, Radhi said the state muallaf registrar had exercised his powers lawfully to register them as Muslims after their father, M Nagahswaran, gave his consent to the conversion.
“(The mother’s) consent is not necessary,” he said.
Loh is asking the court to nullify the children’s conversion into Islam.
She also wants a declaration that the provision allowing unilateral conversions contained in the enactment is unconstitutional.
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Radhi said all three children had proclaimed the Islamic affirmation of faith (kalimah shahadah) before the registrar.
The legal adviser said Loh’s lawyers were relying heavily on a 2018 Federal Court ruling which quashed the conversion of M Indira Gandhi’s three children into Islam.
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However, he said the apex court in that case had “overlooked” the Malay version of the Federal Constitution.
“Under Article 160B, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong can prescribe the national language text to be the authoritative (text) and, if there is any conflict between the Malay and English versions, the Malay version should prevail,” he said.
He said another Federal Court panel had in a 2009 conversion case involving the children of R Subashini held that either mother or father could decide on their children’s religion.
“Are you inviting this court to depart from Indira Gandhi’s ruling?” Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh asked Radhi.
“It is quite a tall order to ask the court to reverse the Indira Gandhi ruling,” the judge added.
In response, Radhi said the state took the stand that the ruling in Subashini was still “good law”.
Haniff Khatri Abdulla, appearing for the state’s Majlis Agama Islam dan Adat Istiadat Melayu, told the judge he was entitled to choose between the Indira Gandhi or Subashini rulings.
He said that at the time the children were born, Loh opted to register them as Hindu, the religion Nagashwaran used to profess.
Loh and Nagashwaran were married under civil law. Their divorce was finalised in 2021.
“Her action back then implied that she consented for her children to follow the father’s religion, be it Hindu or Islam,” Haniff said.
Indira Gandhi’s decision binds the lower courts, says Loh’s lawyer
However, A Srimurugan, appearing for Loh, told the court it should follow the Federal Court ruling in Indira’s case as it is a binding procedent.
He said another Federal Court panel had in April last year affirmed the ruling by denying the religious authorities’ bid to reinstate Indira’s two children as Muslims.
He disputed the religious authorities’ contention that the Malay version was the authoritative version of the constitution, saying no gazette has been published on the matter.
Farid will deliver his decision on May 11.
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