Rulers: Refer to religious authorities before tabling amendments
By Wong Choon Mei, Suara Keadilan
Proposed amendments to three key Bills aimed at clearing up some of the touchy areas relating to conversion to Islam and its impact on non-Muslim partners and family members were put on hold by the Conference of Rulers.
At a special Monday meeting chaired by the Raja of Perlis, the Rulers decided that any amendments must first be referred to the religious authorities.
In a statement released after their meeting, the Rulers specifically pinpointed the conversion of minors to
Islam, saying that they wanted to hear from the authorities in their different states before making any decision whether to halt or to allow the amendments to go through.
As guardians of Islam, the Rulers have the right to stop the tabling of the amendments.
The three affected Bills were the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976, Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Act 1993 and Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) Act 1984.
Controversial briefing also cancelled
According to Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Aziz, the amendments were to have touched on the dissolution of marriage, right to custody of children, maintenance of children and wife and division of matrimonial assets.
One of the high-profile changes also included a Cabinet recommendation that a child’s religion must follow that of the parents at the time of marriage.
Currently, Article 12(4) of the federal constitution only broadly provides that the religion of children under the age of 18 is to be determined by a parent or guardian, allowing couples in strained relationships to secretly convert their offspring to Islam in order to gain custody.
A controversial briefing from the Attorney-General to lawmakers on the proposed amendments was cancelled as a result of the Rulers’ decision.
Only Muslim lawmakers had been invited to the briefing, sparking protest from opposition lawmakers.
Said Ipoh Barat M Kulasegaran: “Why the clandestine approach? How can it be segregated to religious segments? If they were going to involve the MPs, they should involve all in-sundry. “
Said Machang MP Saifuddin Nasution: “PKR has MPs of other races too.”
Said Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim: “The amendments must be well understood and debated by Muslim and non-Muslim MPs.
“If you think you need to discuss purely on the syariah or Islamic aspects, you could invite Muslim MPs , that is not wrong.
“But prior to tabling a bill in Parliament, to invite just the Muslim MPs and then to get Muslims and non-Muslim to debate in Parliament, it is a bit odd.”
