AFTER being trapped in a bitter custody battle for eight years, M. Indira Gandhi now feels cheated by the government who had promised her justice.

Her disappointment is with Putrajaya’s decision to withdraw the amendment to Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) (Amendment) Bill 2016 (LRA).

“I have been to the courts and Parliament numerous times and I have seen so many MPs about this matter, hoping I will get a solution, justice.

“It has been eight years now and the promises have not been fulfilled.

“This is heartbreaking. Where should I go from here now? What is the solution for people like me?” the kindergarten teacher told reporters at the Parliament building today.

On Monday, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said announced that will be tabled without Clause 88A.

Clause 88A, which states that the religion of the child should remain in the religion he or she was raised in before one parent converted, was a new addition to the amendments.

Indira said she has not seen her daughter since she was taken away by her former husband eight years ago.

“Any mother should not have to go through what I have been through.”

The proposed amendments to the LRA was drafted following several custodial battles involving Muslim and non-Muslim parents, including Indira’s and her former husband, K. Pathmanathan, who converted to Islam.

Pathmanathan, who took the name of Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, converted all three of their children to Islam without Indira’s knowledge and was then awarded custody of the children by the Shariah Court.

But another judgment by the Ipoh High Court granted Indira the custody of the children, highlighting Malaysia’s conflicting jurisdictions of civil and shariah courts.

Indira got custody of her older two children but the youngest was snatched by her former husband.

Meanwhile, DAP said BN Minister Nazri Aziz’s statement on requiring a constitutional amendment to end the unilateral conversion of minors was hogwash.

DAP Parliamentary Leader Lim Kit Siang said the proposed amendment withdrawn on Monday should be put back in the LRA Amendment Bill to ban unilateral conversion of a child by a converted parent.

“The reasons given by Nazri is a big ‘cop-out’ from an eight-year-old Barisan Nasional Cabinet decision in 2009 to amend the LRA to ban unilateral conversion of a child by a parent.

“The clause banning unilateral conversion of a minor by a single parent should be restored in the LRA Amendment Bill, and it is for those, like Nazri, who suddenly argue that such a provision is unconstitutional, to let the courts decide whether it is constitutional or otherwise.

“Nazri is not sincere and truthful about the eight-year change-of-heart to amend the LRA to ban unilateral conversions of minors by a single parent,” added Lim.

Nazri had said yesterday it would be unconstitutional to go ahead with a law to stop unilateral conversion of minors without amending the Federal Constitution.

He had said the government also feared that any attempt to amend the constitution, which required two-thirds of MPs to vote in favour of it, could be derailed if opposition MPs go back on their word despite their support for the LRA. – August 9, 2017.