THE COURT of Appeal in Putrajaya has set aside the high court’s decision to maintain the religious status of single mother Loh Siew Hong’s three children as Muslims, as they had been unilaterally converted by her ex-husband, Muhammad Nagashwaran Muniandy.
A three-member panel of judges chaired by Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, who sat with Datuk Hashim Hamzah and Datuk Azhahari Kamal Ramli, today decided unanimously on the reversing high court decision and allowing Loh’s appeal in the matter.
Hadhariah said the high court did not touch on two issues, including whether the unilateral religious conversion of Loh’s son was legal, during the judicial review proceedings.
“Second, either Section 117(b) of the Perlis Enactment or Enactment 4 is unconstitutional because it conflicts with Article 12 (4) of the federal constitution,” she said.
“The failure to answer these two issues is a clear misdirection that is tantamount to an error in law.
“On the issue of unilateral conversion, we are bound by the decision in the Indira Gandhi case which held that consent of both parents must be obtained before minor children can be converted to another religion.
“In this case, it is not disputed that the appellant mother did not consent to the three children’s conversion to Islam,” she said.
“Therefore, we allow the appeal by the applicant (Loh) and set aside the high court’s decision,” she said.
On May 11, high court judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh had ruled that there was no evidence the three children had stopped professing the religion of Islam when they were under the care of their mother.
The judge said Loh, as the applicant, did not deny that her children continued professing the religion of Islam in performing the daily Subuh prayers when they were in her custody and that there was no evidence that the three children have reverted to the Hindu religion.
He said the certificates of conversion were issued after the first respondent, the Perlis Registrar of Converts, was satisfied that the legal requirements under Section 107(1) of the Perlis 2006 Enactment were adhered to when the children had professed the Syahadah proclamation willingly.
Loh, 36, filed the application on March 25 last year and named the Perlis Registrar of Converts, Perlis Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council, Perlis Mufti Datuk Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin and the Perlis government as the first to the fourth respondents.
The single mother sought a declaration that her three children are Hindus and that her ex-husband Nagashwaran did not have the legal capacity to allow the Perlis Registrar of Converts to register their children as converts without her consent.
The woman sought a declaration that her three children, as children, do not have the legal capacity to convert to Islam without her consent.
She also sought a certiorari order to revoke the Declaration of Conversion to Islam, dated July 7, 2020, issued by the Registrar of Converts of Perlis in the name of her three children, and also other cards on their conversion to Islam that have been issued by other parties, and also prevent any party from issuing such a card.
The three children – a pair of 15-year-old twin girls and an 11-year-old boy who were formerly placed under the care of the Social Welfare Department – were released to Loh on February 21, 2022, after the high court allowed her habeas corpus application. – The Vibes, January 10, 2024
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