THE High Court today dismissed the Perlis Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council’s (Maips) application to intervene in a divorce petition between a single mother, Loh Siew Hong and her ex-husband Muhammad Nagahswaran Muniandy, who converted to Islam with their three children.

Judge Evrol Mariette Peters made the decision after finding that Maips had failed to show that it was an interested party in relation to the children and ordered the council to pay RM8,000 in costs to Loh.

“The children are not orphans. They do not belong to the community of Perlis. They reside in Selangor and went to Perlis for the conversion only,” she said.

The judge said the state religious body had also failed to seek the views of the former husband in relation to the bid to vary Loh’s full custody order.

On March 7, Maips filed the intervention application so that it would have locus standi to apply for a variation on the terms of the sole custody order granted to Loh. – Bernama, June 15, 2022.

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