Woman appeals High Court ruling that her children are Muslims
Published on: Monday, May 15, 2023
By: FMT
Single mother Loh Siew Hong submits her notice of appeal through her lawyer at the Kuala Lumpur High Court registry May 15, 2023.
Kuala Lumpur: Single mother Loh Siew Hong has filed an appeal to set aside last week’s High Court ruling that her children were still Muslims despite being unilaterally converted into the faith by their father.
Her lawyer, A Srimurugan, said the notice of appeal was filed in the High Court registry this morning.
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“I will also be writing to the secretary of the High Court judge for the full written grounds to be made available,” he told FMT.
This is to enable the filing of a memorandum of appeal, which will identify where the judge had erred in his decision.
On May 11, Justice Wan Farid Wan Salleh dismissed Loh’s judicial review application, saying there was no evidence the three children had stopped professing Islam even after she had gained custody of them.
Wan Farid said he found that there was no dispute that certificates of conversion were issued to the children.
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He said the certificates were issued after the Perlis state registrar of converts was satisfied that the legal requirements of Section 107(1) of the Perlis 2006 Enactment had been adhered to and that the children had professed the Syahadah proclamation willingly.
On March 25 last year, Loh filed the suit seeking a declaration that a provision in the state enactment that allows a parent to unilaterally convert minor children was unconstitutional.
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She also wanted a declaration that her twin daughters, aged 14, and son, aged 11, were still Hindus.
Loh said her children were legally incapable of embracing Islam without her consent as they were minors.
The registrar of converts (Mualaf), the religious and Malay customs council of Perlis, state mufti Asri Zainul Abidin and the state government were named as respondents.
Loh also wanted a certiorari order to quash the registration of the conversion into the Islamic faith by the registrar on July 7, 2020.
On Feb 21 last year, High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah allowed a habeas corpus application filed by Loh after she had failed to regain custody of her three children from preacher Nazirah Nanthakumari Abdullah.
This followed a civil court order giving her custody, care and control of her three children.
Loh claimed she later came to know that her children had been placed under Nazirah’s care and alleged that Nazirah refused to let her meet them.
Loh, a Buddhist, contends that her former husband, M Nagahswaran, did not have the legal capacity to allow the registrar of converts to register their children as converts without her consent.
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