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Multi-faith body joins calls for children’s conversion to be reversed

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MCCBCHST says the Perlis religious department showed its ‘negligence’ in allowing the conversion to go through.

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Free Malaysia Today
MCCBCHST says the conversion of Loh Siew Hong’s three children should be null and void as her consent had not been sought.

PETALING JAYA:
A multi-faith council has called on the Perlis religious department to quash the unilateral conversion of three children to Islam, highlighting its “negligence” for allowing it to go through.

Earlier yesterday, Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin confirmed that the department had registered Loh Siew Hong’s three children as Muslims upon the request of their father, adding that the department did not know, or investigate, Loh’s whereabouts.

In a statement, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism (MCCBCHST) stressed that the Federal Court had made a landmark ruling in the M Indira Gandhi case in 2018 that consent from both parents was mandatory when it came to the conversion of minors.

“In view of the Federal Court’s decision, the conversion of the three children (should) be null and void as the mother’s consent had not been obtained,” it said.

“The Perlis religious department should, therefore, unilaterally cancel the children’s conversion to Islam without requiring her (Loh) to obtain a court order to quash the wrongful conversion.”

MCCBCHST also noted Asri’s comment that the father said he did not know where Loh was, “so we let them become Muslims”.

“These admitted facts clearly show the negligence of the Perlis religious department for allowing the children’s conversion without the mother’s consent,” it said.

Before meeting her children recently, Low had not met them for the past three years as she was recovering at a domestic abuse shelter.

She was then also in the process of divorcing her husband – who is currently jailed for a drug offence – and gaining custody of the 14-year-old twin daughters and 10-year-old son, which was granted in December.

She lodged a missing person’s report over the weekend, and police later told her that the children were under the care of the religious authorities in Perlis.

She met them for the first time in three years at a police station in Kangar on Sunday.

While Loh has a court order granting her full custody of her children, she allowed them to be placed under the welfare department’s care temporarily pending a habeas corpus application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Feb 21 for the children to be officially handed back to her.

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