How come I can’t see my daughters but mufti can, asks distraught mother

 

A screenshot from Asri Zainul Abidin’s Instagram account showing the mufti talking to the 14-year-old twin girls.

BUTTERWORTH: A single mother who recently discovered that her three children were converted to Islam without her consent has expressed shock that the Perlis mufti had questioned them about their conversion.

Loh Siew Hong was also saddened that those who had no ties to the girls could spend time with them while she, the mother, could not, supposedly due to “Covid-19 restrictions”.

“They are kids. How can you ask them what their faith is? You should ask their mother,” Loh told FMT. The girls are both aged 14.

“Why can the mufti meet them while I can’t? That is really cruel,” she added.

Loh said this after Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin uploaded a video in which he is seen spending time with Loh’s twin daughters over satay and asking if they “wanted to be Muslims” and if they were “coerced” into converting.

In the video, Asri can be seen telling the girls he would work towards ensuring the girls remained Muslims. Loh’s son, 10, was not in the video.

In his post, Asri said the children’s father had converted to Islam in July 2020 and that the “Perlis authorities” had taken care of their education and welfare, without knowing that the mother had custody of her children.

FMT has reached out to Asri for comment.

Recently, Loh lodged a police report that her twin daughters and son, were under the care of a woman running an Islamic NGO.

She had not met her children for the past three years as she was recovering at a domestic abuse shelter. She was then also in the process of getting a divorce and custody of the children.

Loh divorced her husband and obtained full custody of their children last year, with the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordering police to ensure the return of the children to her.

She was recently allowed to meet her children in Perlis, but decided to place the children under the social welfare department’s (JKM) care until a habeas corpus suit was heard on Feb 21.

JKM had agreed that Loh could visit her children daily, provided she got tested for Covid-19.

However, she was not allowed to visit them today. She was told that there were now new Covid-19 visitor restrictions in place at the centre.

Loh has also filed a suit against a woman running an Islamic foundation who is alleged to have had her children under her care over the past three years. - FMT