GEORGE TOWN – The three children at the heart of a custody battle between their mother Loh Siew Hong and the Perlis religious authorities have been apparently converted to Islam despite her objections, an activist claimed today.
Seberang Prai City Council councillor David Marshel said the matter was conveyed to him by an officer attached to the Kedah Social Welfare Department.
Marshel, who is helping Loh in his capacity as the president of Tamil Kural, a Tamil rights non-government organisation, said that the three children – twin daughters aged 14 and a 10-year-old son – were believed to have been converted in Perlis.
“I was informed by an officer about this. All three children,” he said.
However, due to the adverse circumstances behind the alleged change of religious status, Marshel said that Loh now wants to pursue a legal channel to challenge the alleged conversion because her children are still minors.
“In the eyes of the law, I think this conversion has grounds to be contested,” he added.
Marshel said that lawyers representing Loh will file an affidavit to a high court seeking for the alleged conversion to be declared a miscarriage of justice, as both the children are minors and full parental consent was not sought.
Marshel also disclosed that Loh was today allowed brief visitation rights, so the single mother is now travelling to Kedah to see her children.
She can visit her children three times a week, in line with Covid-19 restrictions.
The siblings are now cared for by the Kedah Social Welfare Department after Loh had earlier obtained a high court injunction, which ruled that she has sole custody of the children.
Loh is comfortable with the children staying at the facility in Kedah, pending the hearing of her habeas corpus application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Monday to fully determine who has rightful custody of the three siblings.
The family dispute began to unfold in 2019 when Loh divorced her husband, who later accepted Islam as his religion of choice while he was imprisoned.
The husband continues to serve time for a narcotic charge in Kelantan.
Loh has since lodged a police report that her twin daughters and son were illegally placed under the care of a woman who manages an Islamic non-governmental organisation.
She has not met her children for the past three years as she was recovering at a domestic abuse centre, after the tumultuous separation from her husband, who had allegedly physically abused her.
Loh later divorced her husband and obtained custody of their children last year, with the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordering the police to ensure the return of the children to her. – The Vibes, February 16, 2022
