Gerawat: Unilateral conversion of underage children unconstitutional in all states

MIRI (Jan 12): Any unilateral conversion of underage children to Islam is unconstitutional in all states including Sarawak, said Deputy Minister in Sarawak Premier’s Department Datuk Gerawat Gala.

He made this clarification when commenting on the decision by the Court of Appeal on Wednesday where its panel of three judges unanimously decided to quash the unilateral conversion of three Hindu children to Islam by their Muslim convert father, and ruled in favour of their Hindu mother Loh Siew Hong.

“The consent of both parents for conversion of their underage children to Islam is required for such conversion to be valid.

“That decision of the Federal Court in M. Indira Gandhi’s case is the law in the whole of Malaysia including Sarawak,” said Gerawat, who is a lawyer by training, in agreeing with the decision by the Court of Appeal.

The Appeal Court upheld the Federal Court’s decision in M. Indira Gandhi’s case which has been hailed as a landmark decision that reaffirms the civil courts’ constitutional role and powers.

The apex court ruling in 2018 quashed her ex-husband’s unilateral conversion of their three children to Islam without her knowledge or consent.

Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Youth Central chairman Michael Tiang in responding to the decision back then had said the case also cleared up the confusion by declaring that unilateral conversions of children to Islam are unlawful and the decision was welcomed as a ‘beacon in murky waters’ on unilateral child conversion.

The Court of Appeal on Wednesday made it clear that conversion under any provision in the Syariah law of any state purporting to recognise the unilateral conversion of underage children by a parent who decides to embrace Islam is unconstitutional.

Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, who chaired the three-man panel, said the Perlis state law provision that allows conversion of children to Islam with just one parent’s consent is unconstitutional.

The court also granted all nine orders that the appellant Loh prayed for in her legal challenge against her children’s unilateral conversion to Islam, including declaring the three children are adherents of Hinduism.

Hadhariah said the court is bound by the interpretation of Article 12(4) in Indira Gandhi’s case, meaning the word ‘parent’ in Article 12(4) means both parents, therefore Section 117(b) of the Administration of the Religion of Islam Enactment 2006 is unconstitutional.

All four respondents, including the Perlis Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIPs) and the Perlis government, submitted that the authoritative text of the Federal Constitution should be the Malay language translation instead of the original text in English but the Court of Appeal stressed that the English text is still the authoritative one.