GEORGE TOWN – Lawyers representing single mother Loh Siew Hong reiterated that their client has never given permission to any party to convert her three underage children to Islam.
They added that the religious status of the three children should be decided first before the Perlis Islamic Affairs and Malay Customs Council (Maips) acts on the presumption that they are Muslim converts.
The saga continues after Maips filed an application with the high court here on March 7 seeking to intervene in Loh’s divorce proceedings with Muslim convert Nagahswaran Muniandy as well as provide Islamic education to the children now placed in Loh’s custody.
Loh’s lawyers said the consent of both parents is mandatory, referring to the case of Indira Gandhi Mutho v. Director of Perak Islamic Religious Department [2018] 2 MLRA 1, in which Federal Court judge Tan Sri Datuk Zainun Ali ruled that the consent of both parents are required before a Certificate of Conversion to Islam can be issued in respect of the children.
Lawyers A. Srimurugan, Shamsher Singh Thind, and J. Gunamalar in a statement issued last night said any party was free to make whatever application it deems reasonable, and it is up to the court to decide whether to allow such application in accordance with the law, after hearing a reply from the other party.
However, they said that Maips’ contention that Loh’s three children are converts was indefensible as the council acknowledged Loh did not give permission to any party to register the three children as Muslim converts.
On February 21, the high court granted Loh a writ of habeas corpus against the unlawful detention of her three children.
Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, when delivering his judgment, agreed with Loh’s lawyer A. Srimurugan that the respondents in this matter had gone against court orders issued in 2019 and 2021 that granted the single mother full custody of the children.
“The three children are to be released forthwith into the sole custody, care, and control of the applicant,” said Sequerah.
The three children, twin girls aged 14 and a boy aged 10, have since been reunited with their mother. – The Vibes, March 9, 2022
