MOHAMED Nazri Abdul Aziz has asked if the law will be amended so that unilateral conversions will be put to an end and that both parents’ consent are needed for religious conversion of young children.

“We want to ask if the word ‘parent’, which refers to father and mother, will be revoked (from the Federal Constitution), the Barisan Nasional’s Padang Rengas MP said during the debate on the royal address.

“Also in the amendments, will there be a proper interpretation of word ‘parent’? It (parents) should be both the father and mother.”

Nazri was addressing the issue of single mother Loh Siew Hong, whose twin 14-year-old girls and a 10-year-old boy were converted by her ex-husband Naghaswaran Muniandy sometime in July 2020. 

Last month, Loh succeeded in a legal challenge to overturn the detention of her three children, who were unilaterally converted to Islam by her ex-husband.

Naghaswaran abducted the two in 2019 and allegedly converted them to Islam without Loh’s knowledge.

The former de facto law minister said he totally disagreed with the forced conversion of children from Hinduism to Islam, done by their father who is in jail.

“Now, the court has also granted custody of the three children to their mother. I strongly oppose the conversion of these children,” he said.

“In Islam, we don’t force anyone to convert to our religion. It has to be voluntary. We can’t accept (forced conversion).”

He said unilateral conversion is not allowed.

“Some say the Federal Constitution says the parent is father and mother, but the common usage is ‘parents’,” he said.

“So we cannot say that a father or mother can unilaterally convert their children.

“My stand is, the father has no right to convert the children without the consent of the mother.”

His comments comes after the latest case which involved single mother Loh Siew Hong whose twin 14-year-old daughters and a 10-year-old son were converted by her ex-husband Nagahswaran Muniandy in July 2020.

Last month, Loh succeeded in a legal challenge to overturn the detention of her three children, who were unilaterally converted to Islam by her ex-husband who abducted them.

The siblings were abducted in 2019 and converted to Islam without Loh’s knowledge.

The unilateral conversion has reignited a debate on the matter. The Federal Court had ruled in the earlier Indira Gandhi case, which stated that conversions require the consent of both parents.

Indira’s daughter, Prasana Diksa, was taken by her ex-husband, Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, known as K. Pathmanathan before he converted to Islam in 2009, when she was just 11 months old.

He had also converted their two other children to Islam without Indira’s knowledge.

After a protracted court battle that spanned years, the Federal Court ruled in January 2018 that the unilateral conversions of Indira’s children were unlawful.

Their two elder children, Tevi Darsiny, now 22, and Karan Dinish, now 21, have been staying with Indira.

Despite the ruling, police have yet to recover Prasana and return her to Indira.

Police have yet to locate Riduan despite an arrest warrant was issued by the High Court in 2014.

During his debate, Nazri said if the father is allowed to convert the children, it is constructive coercion.

“Like in the case of M. Indira Gandhi where her child was taken away just after she gave birth,” he said.

“And the child was converted to Islam. As a Muslim, I am not proud of issues like this. There is no fairness.

“Another reason I don’t agree with it is because in the country, we have to take care of the rights and interests of the minorities.

“Of course, the constitution says Islam is the official religion of the country, but we cannot oppress the minorities.” – March 2, 2022.