PAS Youth has once again urged Putrajaya to empower the shariah courts after the Federal Court made a ruling last week to disallow unilateral conversion. 

The youth wing’s vice-chief Khairil Nizam Khirudin said shariah courts should be given more powers and state Islamic administrations should be strengthened.

“We want the state religious authorities to review and update the shariah laws and Islamic administrative enactments to protect Muslims and to take into consideration the non-Muslims as well.

“It is not about justice for Muslims but justice for non-Muslims,” he said in a press conference at PAS headquarters today. 

The apex court ruled last week the unilateral conversion of M. Indira Ghandi’s three children to Islam was null and void, requiring the consent of both parents and the constitutional word “parent” was a case of being lost in translation. 

Khairil stressed shariah courts should be empowered to resolve cases like Indira’s at the state level. 

The Islamist party’s youth wing also suggested the government act as a “mediator” between Muslims and non-Muslims, to avoid any religious conflicts pertaining to conversion cases. 

“We urge the government to form a mechanism to mediate and rationalise the importance of Islam as the federal religion.

“At the same time, it can minimise the damage that might be caused by clashes involving multi-religious communities,” Khairil said. 

PAS recently voiced its objection against any effort to reintroduce Clause 88A of the Law Reform (Marriage & Divorce) Act 1976 (LRA). 

Clause 88A states “the religion of the child shall remain as the religion of all parties to the marriage prior to the conversion”.

The clause also states the child can, after turning 18, and with the consent of both parents, convert to Islam.

Clause 88A would prevent the unilateral conversion of a child by one Muslim parent.  

It was dropped from the LRA because it contravened the Federal Constitution

However, PAS and conservative Muslim groups have opposed the introduction of 88A, claiming that it went against Muslim interests.

In a post on PAS mouth piece Harakahdaily online, its information chief, Nasrudin Hassan, said the Islamist party will oppose any attempt to bring back Clause 88A in the LRA.

In another post, Kelantan PAS leader Nik Bahrum Nik Abdullah said the only way to prevent the return of Clause 88A is to increase the number of PAS lawmakers.

PAS’ legal and human rights bureau chief  Mohamed Fadzli Hassan also suggested shariah courts to be opened to non-Muslims so they can claim their rights according to Islamic regulations.

A panel of five judges led by Court of Appeal Judge Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin made a unanimous decision last week the conversion of Indira’s three children by her former husband, Muhammad Riduan Abdullah who had converted to Islam, was null and void.

The ruling overturned an appellate court 2-1 majority decision on December 30, 2015, to reinstate the conversion certificates of her three children, which had been nullified by the Ipoh High Court.

The appellate court had ruled the civil High Court did not have jurisdiction to decide on the validity of the children’s conversion, which it said came under the exclusive jurisdiction of the shariah court.

The children, two girls and a boy now aged 20, 19 and 9, were converted to Islam by their father, Riduan, 47, formerly known as K. Pathmanathan, in April 2009 without Indira’s consent.

The children were then aged 12 and 11 years, and 11 months. – February 3, 2018.