KUALA LUMPUR: Unilateral conversion of minors to the religion of Islam is illegal as decided by the Federal Court five years ago, the High Court heard today.
Lawyer Srimurugan Alagan @ Alake said the top court ruled that the consent of both mother and father were required before a Certificate of Conversion to Islam could be issued in respect of the children.
Srimurugan who appeared for Hindu mother Loh Siew Hong said this in his submissions to challenge the unilateral conversion of Loh's three children to Islam by her ex-husband.
He cited the case of Indira Gandhi vs the Perak Islamic Religious Affairs Department director where the Apex Court made the ruling.
"Applying the law as it is to the undisputed fact of this case, it must follow, as night follows day, that the unilateral conversion of my client's three children is illegal.
"As such, the certificates of conversion issued by Perlis Registrar of Mualaf, registering the said children as mualaf, are null, void and of no effect," he said.
Loh's three children were converted to Islam by her ex-husband without her consent in 2019, and she is contesting the legality of it.
Loh is seeking a declaration that her children are Hindus and that they were legally unfit to embrace Islam without her approval.
She is also seeking to reverse her children's registration of conversion to Islam dated July 7, 2020 issued by the registrar.
Loh had named the Registrar of Mualaf, Religious and Malay Customs Council of Perlis, besides Perlis state mufti Datuk Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin and the Perlis state government as respondents.
Meanwhile, Perlis state legal adviser Mohd Radhi Abas contended that Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution states that the religion of a person under the age of 18 years shall be decided by his parent or guardian, meaning single parent.
"Thus, either the father or mother has the right to convert their child to Islam as the case may be.
"Both husband and wife profess their equal right under the constitution to convert the child.
"The application is not rigid to the father or the husband only but also applies to the mother or the wife on a case-to-case basis," he said.
Counsel Mohamed Haniff Katri Abdulla who appeared for the Perlis Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIPs) said the court should not apply the decision in Indira Gandhi's case blanketly and blindly, without appreciation to the facts of each and every case.
Haniff said in the Indira Gandhi case, the Perak Registrar of Muallaf failed to ensure the children utter the article of faith, or syahadah.
"Such failure did not occur in our case as the three children had clearly uttered the article of faith, both in Arabic and in the language that they understood, namely Malay, before they were issued with the certificate of conversion.
"We therefore respectfully submit that there was no impropriety on the part of any of the respondents in registering the three children as Muslim," he said.
Judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh then fixed May 11 to deliver the decision.