Perlis’s ‘unilateral conversion’ appeal bound to fail, says Federal Court

FMT : The apex court says its decision in Indira Gandhi’s case, handed down in 2018, is ‘binding throughout the nation’ and applies in Loh Siew Hong’s case.

PUTRAJAYA: The Perlis state authorities were not allowed to challenge a decision which quashed the conversion of Loh Siew Hong’s three minor children to Islam as the proposed appeal was bound to fail, according to the Federal Court.

“There is no prima facie case of success in the appeal, and the application for leave to appeal is dismissed,” Justice Nalini Patmanathan said in her grounds of judgment delivered on Monday.

The motion had been filed by the Perlis Islamic religious and Malay customs council (MAIPs), its registrar of converts, state mufti Asri Zainul Abidin and the state government. Delivering the unanimous judgment of the court, Nalini noted that the crux of the appeal which the applicants intended to bring revolved around the correctness and applicability of the apex court’s decision in M Indira Gandhi’s case seven years ago.

“(The case of) Indira Gandhi held that the consent of both parents is constitutionally required in order for the conversion of a minor to be legally valid. “In other words, where a minor has been unilaterally converted (i.e. by one parent without the consent of the other), the conversion is void and must be set aside,” the judge said.

Nalini said the applicants’ arguments, if accepted by the court, would in effect reverse the Federal Court’s decision in Indira Gandhi’s case and “encourage the unconstitutional practice of unilateral conversion to persist”.

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