A STATE law to allow unilateral conversions in Selangor is expected to be discussed at PKR’s next political bureau meeting where Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari will be present.

Amirudin, whose portfolio includes Islamic affairs, will discuss the bill, which has caused an uproar among PKR’s allies in Pakatan Harapan, sources told The Malaysian Insight.

The party will then decide on its stand on the bill, which is supposed to have been tabled at the mid-year state legislature sitting. The bill did not make it to the assembly in time before the sitting was adjourned.

The bill supposedly allows minors to convert to Islam by getting the consent of one parent, contradicting the Federal Court ruling last year that conversions must obtain the consent of both parents.

When it was revealed that the bill was on the cards, DAP, a PH component party, said it would block it. Selangor PH is made up of DAP, PKR, Amanah and Bersatu.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said its stand on the conversion of minors to Islam is that it can only be made with the consent of both parents.

“Our stand is very clear. We adhere to the federal constitution and the Federal Court’s ruling where the conversion of a minor must be agreed to by both parents,” Lim said.

In a landmark decision in January last year, the Federal Court ruled that a child’s conversion to Islam must obtain the consent of both parents.

The decision ended an emotional nine-year legal battle between former kindergarten teacher M. Indira Gandhi and her ex-husband Muhammad Ridhuan Abdullah. Ridhuan had unilaterally converted their three children to Islam.

The Federal Court decision effectively nullified Ridhuan’s conversion of the three children. 

However, lawyers had said the plan to allow unilateral conversion in Selangor will be unenforceable as the Federal Court ruling on unilateral conversions would supersede any state law.

At present, the proposed Selangor enactment reads that those below 18 must obtain the consent of his or her “mother and father” before embracing Islam. The amendment seeks to change this to “mother or father”. – August 28, 2019.