PN yet to formulate position on unilateral conversion - Muhyiddin

 

Perikatan Nasional (PN) has yet to formulate a common position on the issue of children being unilaterally converted to another religion by either parent engaged in a custodial dispute, said its chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin.

"We haven't taken any position as yet. We will have to try and look into every aspect of the Constitution, the law, and whatnot.

"What is important is, of course, there is the freedom and right of people to choose whichever religion.

"But Islam has, in particular, laws governing their believers," he told journalists after assisting PN's campaign for the Johor polls in Pagoh today.

Earlier today, Umno's Padang Rengas MP Nazri Abdul Aziz questioned if the government was prepared to amend the Federal Constitution to put an end to the issue of unilateral conversion.

This was amid a series of incidents where people took advantage of the separate legal systems - civil and Syariah courts governing non-Muslims and Muslims - with regard to family law.

The cases involved one parent, after losing custody of their children in the civil courts, converting their children to Islam to secure custody of them in the Syariah courts.

The latest case involved Penang-born single mother Loh Siew Hong (above), whose children were converted to Islam by their father.

They were later kept in the care of the Welfare Department and religious authorities who refused to return them to Loh despite her securing custody at the courts. The father was in prison for a drug offence.

In the end, Loh went to the court again where she obtained a court order instructing the Welfare Department to return her three children.

PAS, which has shown ambivalence towards the issue of unilateral conversion, had insisted that Loh's children must remain as Muslims.

Muhyiddin said the issue was a sensitive one that needed to be deliberated.

"I understand it is a sensitive matter. We need to do it properly and have discussions among our leaders on what is the proper position to take," he said.

Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution explicitly states that the religion of any person aged under 18 is determined by the parent, which a 2018 landmark court ruling had decided must mean both parents. - Mkini