Bar Council: Translating Constitution causing confusion

The Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong claims that the Bahasa Malaysia translation of the Federal Constitution is leading to a lot of misinterpretation.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong claims that the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Federal Constitution is causing a lot of confusion when translated.

He said the act of translating the Federal Constitution was not an amendment of the Federal Constitution.

He said this following the case of V Mithran,5, and V Sharmila,8, who were allegedly converted forcefully by their estranged father N Viran.

Viran had converted to Islam and also converted the children without the consent of their mother, only known as Deepa.

Highlighting the two articles within the Federal Constitution Christopher said the unilateral conversion of minor children to any religion by a parent, without the consent of the non-converting parent creates social injustice and violates the rights of the non-converting parent.

Article 12(3) of the Federal Constitution states that “No person shall be required to receive instruction in or to take part in any ceremony or act of worship of a religion other than his own.

Article 12(4) provides that “For the purposes of Clause (3), the religion of a person under the age of eighteen years shall be decided by his parent or guardian.” (emphases added)

“Article 160 of the Federal Constitution explains the rules of interpretation.

“It is stated that words importing the masculine gender include females and words in the singular includes plural and vice versa,” he said in a statement.

“Accordingly, unilateral religious conversions of any minors in breach of this are unconstitutional,” he added.

Christopher said there was presently confusion in the Bahasa Malaysia version of article 12(4) when the translation is done directly without any further contemplation.

“Until 2002, the Bahasa Malaysia version, as published by the government printers, translated “parent” as ibu bapa” he said.

“However, in the 2002 edition of the translation of the Federal Constitution, the word “parent” was translated as ibu atau bapa,” he added.

He said the Malaysian Bar now called upon the government to ensure that the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Federal Constitution was corrected and to implement appropriate amendments to the Law Reform Act (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976.

“The unilateral conversion of minor children to any religion should be unacceptable,” he said.

“The government must act now to put an end to this sorry state of affairs and not remain in animated suspension in the face of human sorrow and misery,” he added.