Bebas wants religious authorities to heed Federal Court ruling on the conversion of a child

KUCHING: Civil rights group Bebas said religious authorities must heed the Federal Court ruling that consent of both parents is needed in the conversion of underage children to another religion.

Bebas was referring to the Court’s decision on a case brought by M Indira Gandhi over the Islamisation of her underage children.

“Let this be a wake-up call for religious authorities to conduct their duties without a particular bias, as they are trusted by the public to administer religious affairs in a fair and transparent manner,” Bebas said in a press statement made available on Tuesday.

Bebas then called on the federal government to amend the federal Law Reform ( Marriage and Divorce) Act, and for the state governments of Perak, Kedah, Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Sarawak, Perlis, Pahang and Kelantan to also amend their respective state Islamic enactments, to explicitly state that the consent of both parents is required to convert a child below 18 years of age to Islam.

The state Islamic enactments in Penang, Selangor, Terengganu, Johor and Sabah already state that the consent of both parents is required to convert a minor to Islam.

On Monday (Jan 29), the Federal Court decided to void and set aside the conversion of Hindu mother M Indira Gandhi’s three children to Islam without her consent.

Bebasalso welcomed theFederal Court’s ruling that explicitly underlines that the consent of both parents is required to convert a minor, as per Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution which states the religion of a person below 18 years shall be decided by his or her parents.

“This represents an important victory for justice, which is a rare sight of late. Indira along with her children can move on from this strenuous ordeal that has burdened the entire family for close to 10 years. Bebas urges religious authorities in all states to immediately amend their procedures relating to the registration of Muslims as necessary and to register minors as Muslims only if the consent of both parents has been obtained,” the statement said.

“While Bebas agrees that parents should be free to bring up their child under their custody in any religion, including Islam, documented religious conversion of a minor must require the consent of both parents. In addition to that, we also believe that children should not have their religion documented on paper until they turn 18 and consent to entering their own faith into the system,” the statement further said.

Meanwhile, United Nations International Children Education Fund ( Unicef) representative in Malaysia, Marianne Clark-Hattingh, said Unicef welcomes the unanimous decision by the Federal Court declaring that the consent of both parents is needed to change the religion of their children.

This decision is in line with the ‘best interests of the child’ principle upheld by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, she pointed out.

“Article 3 states that the best interests of the child must be the primary concern of all adults making decisions on their children’s behalf. All adults should do what is best for children, considering the impact of their decisions. The ‘best interests of the child’ is a fundamental principle in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which Malaysia is party to.”

Unilateral conversions ultimately tear families apart and the ensuing custody battles are often long and painful for all concerned, most notably the children themselves, Clark-Hattingh was quoted as saying in the Unicef press release.