ATTORNEY-GENERAL Idrus Harun, who has remained silent on a single mother’s battle with the Perlis religious authority for custody of her children, must act to ensure state laws are in compliance with Federal Court orders, Klang MP Charles Santiago said today.

The DAP lawmaker was referring to the decision of the Federal Court on the case of M. Indira Gandhi, in which it quashed the unilateral conversions of her three children to Islam.

“This is what the tug of war is about: the Perlis religious authorities defending unilateral conversions because it’s allowed for in the state enactment and many others pointing out such an act is unconstitutional,” Santiago said in a statement today.

“To add to this, we have Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, who spoke to Loh Siew Hong’s children and now claims they will remain Muslims.”

“The mum, who endured physical abuse at the hands of her then-husband, is made to undergo even more emotional trauma because this has been fashioned to look like a religious issue.”

“Right after the 2018 ruling, it was made clear that state laws must be aligned to reflect the Federal Court order. But why wasn’t this carried out?”

Loh has been separated from her 14-year-old twin daughters and a 10-year-old son since 2019, when she was in hospital due to injuries she claimed she sustained from physical abuse by her now divorced husband, M. Naghaswaran.

It was while she was hospitalised that he had their children converted to Islam. Loh was afterwards unable to find the children.

She was granted full custody of the children last March, and finally located them early last month in a Perlis welfare home only to discover they had been converted.

Despite the court’s custody order, neither the police nor welfare authorities are handing the children over to her.

Loh has a habeas corpus hearing at the Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning, whereby the three children must also appear before the judge.

The habeas corpus will allow Loh to inform the court that the children have been held from her unlawfully, and the court can order the children to be handed over to her.

Meanwhile, Santiago urged Asri to stop blaming other parties and to look at the real issue.

Santiago said the religious official should stop blaming DAP for playing up the matter. Instead, the mufti should have known that the Federal Constitution is the supreme law of the country and the Federal Court ruling is binding on all states. 

“Could someone tell Mohd Asri to take his nonsense down a notch or two? He’s blaming DAP, berating human rights lawyer Siti Kasim and calling Indians “the LTTE folks”, while glossing over the real issue.”

“While I understand Mohd Asri may be empty of intellectual debates, even he should know stirring racist sentiments and pitting one community against the other is dangerous in multiracial Malaysia,” Santiago said. – February 21, 2022.