The Court of Appeal has allowed the Perlis Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (Maips) to intervene and vary the custody order granted to single mother Loh Siew Hong for her three unilaterally converted children.
Judge Has Zanah Mehat, who led a three-member bench in the unanimous decision, said the law on intervention is governed by Order 15 Rule 6(2) of Court 2012 read with Section 96 of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976.
“A reading of these two provisions would confer upon the applicant (Maips) a legal right to intervene, premise upon their power pursuant to Section 7 of the Perlis administration of Islamic Enactment.
“We will, therefore, allow appeal and set aside the order of the High Court on June 15, 2022,” she said when delivering the verdict at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya today.
With the ruling, Maips can file an application before the Kuala Lumpur Family Court to vary the custody order.
When delivering the verdict, Has Zanah said there is no necessity to dwell on the legality or, otherwise, the conversion of Loh’s underage children – 15-year-old twin daughters and 11-year-old son.
The other judges on the panel were See Mee Chun and Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.
The state religious body was represented by counsel Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, while lawyers A Srimurugan and Shamsher Singh Thind acted for Loh.
Speaking to reporters, Haniff said his team will file an application on behalf of his client at the Kuala Lumpur High Court to intervene in the custody order granted to Loh.
“Next, we will apply to become a party to intervene in the custody order.
“After that, we will apply to become a party to vary the custody order. Those are the steps,” he added.
Unilateral conversion of children
Last August, the High Court allowed Loh to proceed with her lawsuit to challenge her former husband’s unilateral conversion of their children to Islam without her knowledge and consent in July 2020. The case will be heard on March 21.
Maips filed the intervention application on March 7, 2022, for it to have the locus standi to apply to vary the terms of the custody order granted to Loh.
It is seeking to intervene in the divorce petition between Loh and her ex-husband Muhammad Nagahswaran Muniandy for the purpose of varying a custody order given to Loh so the council can provide Islamic education, training and tithes (zakat) to her children who were converted to Islam by their father.
On June 15, 2022, the civil court dismissed Maips’ application to intervene in the divorce proceedings.
Judge Evrol Mariette Peters ruled that Maips failed to prove that it is an interested party in relation to the betterment of the children’s lives.
In the divorce petition, Loh, 35, was granted sole custody, care and control over the three children.
On Feb 21 last year, Loh’s children, who were under the care of the Social Welfare Department, were released to their mother after the High Court allowed her habeas corpus application. - Mkini
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