Single mum Loh's appeal hearing rescheduled to Sept 26

The hearing of single mother Loh Siew Hong, who is appealing against a court decision to allow a state Islamic department to intervene in her divorce proceedings, has been rescheduled to Sept 26.

She is applying to get leave from the Federal Court to appeal against a Court of Appeal decision to allow the Perlis Islamic Religion and Malay Customs Council (Maips) to intervene in her divorce from Muhammad Nagahswaran Muniandy.

One of Loh’s lawyers, J Gunamalar, told Bernama the application was fixed for hearing today, but they requested the matter to be heard on another date as the lead counsel was not able to make it today.

Case management was instead held before Court of Appeal deputy registrar Rasidah Roslee who fixed the new hearing date.

Gunamalar and Maips’ lawyer Danial Farhan Zainul Rijal attended the case management which was conducted online.

Danial said the deputy registrar also set Sept 11 for another case management.

Loh (above), 36, applied for leave to appeal in March this year against the Court of Appeal’s decision allowing Maips to be the second respondent in the divorce petition between her and her ex-husband, involving the custody order given to her over her three children.

In the divorce petition, Loh has been granted sole custody, care, and control over the children, a pair of 15-year-old twin girls and an 11-year-old boy.

On Feb 7, this year, the Court of Appeal ruled that based on the reading of two provisions - Order 15 Rule 6 of the Rules of Court 2012 and Section 96 of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 - it would confer Maips a legal right to intervene.

On June 15, 2022, the High Court dismissed Maips’ application to intervene in the divorce petition between Loh and Nagahswaran, who converted to Islam with their three children, to amend the sole custody granted to Loh to enable him to provide Islamic education and training as well as zakat to the children.

Maips filed the application to intervene on March 7 last year to enable the religious authority to have the locus standi (legal standing) to apply to vary the terms of the custody order granted to Loh.

Loh has also filed a judicial review application to challenge her children’s conversion to Islam which she claimed was done by her ex-husband without her consent.

She, however, lost her case in the High Court and her appeal is pending before the Court of Appeal.

- Bernama