Explain unilateral conversion law change, Zuraida tells Amirudin

PKR vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin.

KUALA LUMPUR: PKR vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin wants Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari to explain why he recently attempted to push through an amendment to a state enactment to change the wording regarding the conversion of minors.

The local and housing government minister said the party’s stand is to abide by the Federal Constitution on this matter.

That is why she wants the Selangor PKR chief to explain to the Pakatan Harapan leadership and the public why he is so intent on pushing through this controversial bill.

“Amirudin has to explain why he wants to do this. I believe there are specific reasons,” she told FMT today.

The Federal Court last year made a landmark ruling that the consent of both parents is needed for the conversion of minors.

It upheld that the word “parent” in the constitution constitutes both the parents of a child in the M Indira Gandhi custody battle after her Hindu husband became a Muslim and unilaterally converted their children.

The Selangor amendment seeks to change this word to “mother or father”.

Amirudin has said he still intends to table the controversial bill in the upcoming state sitting “if there is a need to do so”.

The last Selangor assembly sitting was adjourned after only two days with speculation that the state speaker did so because he was unhappy over the amendment. Speaker Ng Suee Lim has denied this.

Amirudin said he tried to table the bill towards the end of the last assembly sitting late last month but, unfortunately, something happened and there were several motions that could not be tabled.

Two DAP leaders, namely party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Selangor DAP chairman Gobind Singh Deo, said the proposed amendment was unconstitutional.

Four non-Muslim state executive councillors also held an audience on Aug 9 with the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, at Istana Bukit Kayangan to raise this issue, along with other matters.

One of the four was state Environment, Green Technology and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman Hee Loy Sian, who is from PKR.

Zuraida said Hee, who was the only representative from the party to face the Selangor Sultan that day, does not need to explain to the party what transpired during the audience.

“As Sultan Sharafuddin ordered him to face (‘mengadap’) him, he had to face him.

“However, I myself, until today, do not know what the meeting was about,” she said, adding she forgot to ask him about it when she met him recently.

It has been speculated that the proposed amendment is to strengthen certain leaders’ political power among the Malay voters, as cracks between PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and his deputy, Mohamed Azmin Ali, have emerged after a gay sex video surfaced in June.- FMT