The Malaysian Insight

IPOH Barat MP M. Kulasegaran today submitted a motion to Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia to re-insert the proposed Clause 88A into the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) (Amendment) Bill 2016( LRA), the same clause that was removed by Putrajaya yesterday.

Kulasegaran of DAP said he was looking to insert the clause within this week during the second reading of the bill.

“My request to table the motion is in line with the Dewan Rakyat’s Standing Order 57 (2). Any lawmaker has the right to submit such motion,” he told a press conference here this evening.

Kulasegaran said Clause 88A stated that the religion of the child “shall remain as the religion of the parties to the marriage prior to the conversion”.

The clause also provides that the child can, after turning 18 and with the consent of both parents, convert to Islam.

The amendments to the LRA were deferred for the second time since they were tabled in November to resolve the issue.

The bill was withdrawn on Monday, in sudden move by the government. 

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman  Said, who is in charge of law, issued a press statement later, saying that a new bill would be tabled today without  Clause 88A.

However, the fresh bill expected to maintain amendments that requires a spouse to dissolve the marriage in a civil court when a partner converts to Islam.

Azalina had said the decision to remove the clause was to safeguard the peace and harmony between people of different religions in Malaysia.

She also said that it was in line with Federal Constitution. 

BN minister Nazri Aziz today said it would be unconstitutional to go ahead with a law to stop unilateral conversion of minors without amending the Federal Constitution.

He told Free Malaysia Today that government also feared that any attempt to amend the constitution, which required two-thirds of MPs to vote in favour of it, could be derailed if opposition MPs go back on their word despite their support for the LRA.

Nazri, who once served as de facto law minister, said the government was not convinced that opposition MPs would deliver the two-third support needed, despite their support for the bill. 

Nazri said efforts to bar unilateral conversion of a child could be revisited when BN wins two-third of the Parliamentary seats.

Kulasegaran, however, said the amendment to the LRA was beyond political interest.

“It is the interest of the public. I can speak for my political party. We will support the move. We have 34 seats in Parliament. Is it not enough? You tell me.”

Kulasegaran is also the lawyer to M. Indira Gandhi, the kindergarten teacher who is locked in a bitter legal battle with her Muslim convert ex-husband over the custody of their three children,

The proposed amendments to the LRA was drafted following several custodial battles involving Muslim and non-Muslim parents, including Indira’s and her former husband, K. Pathmanathan.

Pathmanathan converted to Islam and took the name or Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, and he also converted all three of their children to Islam without consulting Indira. 

He was then awarded custody of the children by the shariah court.

But another judgment by the Ipoh High Court granted Indira the custody of the children, highlighting Malaysia’s conflicting jurisdictions of the civil and shariah courts.

Riduan has disappeared with their youngest child, Prasana Diksa. – August 8, 2017.