By: Siti Nuraisyah binti Zulkipli, Siti Nur Najihah binti Zainol Hady
The issue of unilateral conversion is a controversial topic and has long been discussed by various parties, yet does not seem to have a definitive answer up until now. Despite the findings of the court in Indira Gandhi a/p Mutho v Pengarah Jabatan Agama Islam Perak & Ors and other appeals in 2018, the vicious cycles of confusion among people regarding the consent of either single or both parents still can clearly be observed as illustrated in Madam Loh’s case. The existing law has clearly provided that the non-converting parent has no right to determine the child’s religion if such child is born after another spouse embraces Islam and the civil marriage has not been dissolved. This is because the various state enactments in Malaysia defines a “Muslim” as, inter alia, “a person either or both of whose parents were at the time of the person’s birth, a Muslim.” The issue at hand is pertaining to the child’s religion when one of the parents converted to Islam not prior to the childbirth. Madam Loh’s ex-husband converted himself and the children after the divorce where in fact, Madam Loh had been given the ex parte interim order of custody of her three children before the conversion, by the court.
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