KUALA LUMPUR – Single mother Loh Siew Hong, who regained custody of her three underage children last week after a three-year struggle, is still waiting for the Perak and Kedah religious councils to provide evidence that her children were converted to Islam.
Lawyer Shamsher Singh Thind, who is representing Loh, told Malaysiakini that the two state religious authorities have yet to respond to his client’s letter of demand.
He had sent a legal notice to the muallaf (converts) registrars of Penang, Kedah and Perlis on February 16.
“The task of these offices is to register individuals who have embraced Islam. These individuals will be given a certificate as proof.
“On February 23, the Penang Islamic Council responded to our letter confirming that the three children had not converted to Islam in the state.
“We are still waiting for feedback from Kedah and Perlis. If it’s true (that the children were converted to Islam), please show us the proof,” he was quoted as saying today.
He said he will discuss the matter with Loh should there be no response from Kedah and Perlis.
Previously, it was reported that Loh would challenge the unilateral conversion of her children – a 10-year-old boy and 14-year-old twin girls – through a judicial review.
However, should the Kedah and Perlis converts registrars confirm that the names of Loh’s children are not on their list, Shamsher said there will be no need for his client to file a judicial review.
In addition, he had also called on certain quarters to stop claiming that the children’s conversions are being reversed.
He added that the issue of nullifying the conversion is irrelevant at this point in time, as questions arise if “the three children really embrace Islam”.
“Until that (question) is (answered), it is wrong to say that there is an attempt to apostatise the children.”
On February 21, Loh was granted a writ of habeas corpus by the high court here against the unlawful detention of her three children.
Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, when delivering his judgement, agreed with Loh’s lawyer A. Srimurugan that respondents in this matter had gone against court orders issued in 2019 and 2021 that grants the single mother full custody of the children.
Loh’s plight made headlines after she was refused permission to meet with her children, whom she had been trying to locate for the past three years since being discharged from the hospital.
She had lost contact with her children while undergoing treatment for injuries purportedly stemming from an abusive marriage with her ex-husband, Nagashwaran Muniandy.
It was during this void that Nagashwaran is said to have unilaterally converted his children into Islam, following his own conversion.
Following the change of faith, Nagashwaran was then convicted and imprisoned for narcotics-related charges and continued to be incarcerated until November.
Loh has since divorced Nagashwaran and only managed to meet her children thrice over two weeks, before being reunited with them on February 21. – The Vibes, March 3, 2022
