THE Kuala Lumpur High Court has set May 11 for the decision of a judicial review application by a single mother, Loh Siew Hong, to challenge her three children’s unilateral conversion to Islam by her ex-husband without her consent. 

Judge Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh fixed the date after hearing submissions via online proceedings. 

Lawyer A. Srimurugan, representing Loh, submitted there was no dispute by the respondents that the children – all of whom are minors – were indeed converted without the woman’s consent. 

He said as this fact was established, the only live issue before the court is on the legal status of such conversion. 

The lawyer cited the case of Indira Gandhi v Perak Islamic Religious Affairs Department director, where the Federal Court ruled the unilateral conversion of minors to Islam is illegal. 

Perlis legal adviser Mohd Radhi Abas submitted the correct interpretation of the word “parent” in article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution had meant for either the mother or father. 

Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution states the religion of a person under the age of 18 shall be decided by their parent or guardian. 

He said there are 13 provisions in the constitution where the words “parent” or “parents” are used, and these words must be differentiated. 

“Parliament had carefully used the word ‘parent’ in the singular or ‘parents’ in the plural in the constitution. The constitution was passed by parliament, and echoing the words of (late chief justice) Tun Abdul Hamid Omar, the court is not parliament,” he said. 

He said the difference between the two words was not discussed in the 2018 Indira Gandhi case. 

“Under the separation of powers, the right to legislate falls on parliament. With the highest respect, the court should take it as it is,” he said. 

On August 1 last year, the High Court allowed an application for a judicial review by Loh to challenge the action by her ex-husband, M. Nagahswaran, in registering their three children as Muslim converts without her consent. 

The single mother is seeking a declaration her three children are Hindus and that her ex-husband did not have the legal capacity to allow the Perlis Registrar of Converts to register the children without her consent. 

The three children, who were then under the care of the Social Welfare Department, were released to Loh last February after the High Court allowed her habeas corpus application. – Bernama, March 21, 2023.