The Malaysian Insight

PAS has voiced its objection against any effort to reintroduce Clause 88A of the Law Reform (Marriage & Divorce) Act 1976 (LRA). 

Its information chief Nasrudin Hassan said any attempt to bring back the clause would add further tension to the issues and cause outrage among Muslims.

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

It was dropped from the LRA because it contravened the Federal Constitution.

“The government should not test the patience of the Muslim community. We anticipated this situation when we objected the amendments to the Act 164 in Parliament,” he said in a statement today. 

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said yesterday said in a statement the Cabinet would be briefed on the apex court’s decision soon as the landmark ruling overrode all previous decisions. 

The Law Reform (Marriage & Divorce) (Amendment) Bill 2017 was passed on August 10 minus Clause 88A, which drew criticism from opposition leaders. 

Yesterday, a panel of five judges led by Court of Appeal Judge Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin made an unanimous decision that the conversion of M. Indira Gandhi’s three children by her former husband, Muhammad Riduan Abdullah who had converted to Islam, was null and void. 

The court also ruled conversions of minors will need the consent of both parents to be deemed legal.

Nasrudin said the decision was another episode of conflict between civil and shariah courts. 

“PAS strongly protests the government’s stand to bring back the dropped Clause 88A,” he said, describing the clause as biased. 

“The government is constantly seen as giving in to those who are opposing Islam. This development is very saddening for Muslims,” he said. 

The ruling overturned an appellate court 2-1 majority decision on December 30, 2015, to reinstate the conversion certificates of her three children, which had been nullified by the Ipoh High Court.

The appellate court had ruled the civil High Court did not have jurisdiction to decide on the validity of the children’s conversion, which it said came under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Shariah Court.

The children, two girls and a boy now aged 20, 19 and 9, were converted to Islam by their father, Riduan, 47, formerly known as K. Pathmanathan, in April 2009 without Indira Gandhi’s consent, following Riduan’s conversion to Islam.

The children were then aged 12 and 11 years, and 11 months. – January 30, 2018.