NGO urges authorities to probe alleged conversion of teens into Islam

 

An NGO today urged religious authorities and the Education Ministry to investigate alleged covert conversions of non-Muslim school students into Islam.

This comes after controversial religious preacher Firdaus Wong uploaded on TikTok a video where he advised a man on how to handle requests from teenagers to embrace Islam.

In a statement, Global Human Rights Federation (GHRF) president S Shashi Kumar raised concerns over such activities, which he said was a disregard of parents’ rights to decide the religion of their children under age 18.

“In the past, we have lodged many police reports against this preacher but the police have not taken any actions. As such, GHRF urges the Education Ministry, Islamic Development Department (Jakim), and other Islamic bodies in Malaysia to take responsibility and thoroughly investigate such matters.

“The prevalence of unlawful conversions in Malaysia is a serious issue that needs to be addressed to protect the rights of minors and uphold ethical standards in religious conversions,” he said.

Earlier this week, Firdaus (above) uploaded a video on TikTok showing him engaging in a question-and-answer session at an event, where a man, believed to be also a religious preacher, asked Firdaus what to do when underaged non-Muslim teens want to embrace Islam.

To this, Firdaus said the teenagers should be welcomed to Islam but their conversion must not be registered nor announced. He also shared some advice on how teenagers can practise Islam discreetly so they can keep it a secret from others.

According to Shashi, the video has since received criticism and some netizens have complained to his NGO about the matter.

“The advice or suggestion proposed by the preacher raises not only ethical concerns regarding the conversion of minors discreetly without parental consent but also whether such advice or suggestion would be against the laws of Malaysia and also the Federation Constitution,” he said.- Mkini