MIC, MCA want Constitution to be amended following Jais raid
Michael Murty, The Rakyat Post
Pakatan Rakyat should not be hypocrites and should resign following the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) raid on a Hindu wedding ceremony on Sunday.
MIC Youth chief C. Sivarraajh said the incident was evident that the state government had lost control of Jais, which also made headlines following the Bible raid in January.
“What is their stand on this, why have they been silent?
“They only know how to criticise the federal government, but when it comes to problems in their own state, they remain silent.
“This shows that they are biased when it comes to issues demonstrating their weaknesses. If they can’t do their jobs any more, they should resign,” he told The Rakyat Post.
His call echoes that of MCA deputy chairman Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai, who said Selangor Pakatan Rakyat leaders should resign because they failed to protect the rights of non-Muslims in the state.
Sivarraajh labelled the raid as “unethical”.
“I suggest amending the federal Constitution to allow converts to return to their original religion.
“What is the use of force? The person would only pretend to be a Muslim and not really follow the religion.
“In this case, they had been practicing Hinduism for so long. Forcing them would only fuel anger towards Islam, something nobody wants,” he said.
MCA Youth Legal Bureau chairman Choo Wei Sern described the raid carried out by Jais as “deplorable and totally uncalled for”.
“MCA Youth is of the view that it was unnecessary and insensitive of Jais to raid the wedding reception and take the bride-to-be away in order to question her about her religious status, in particular as she had taken all possible avenues and efforts in the last seven years to clarify her religious status that she is not a practising Muslim and to remove the word ‘Islam’ from her identity card,” he said in a press statement.
He said the incident followed others like M. Indira Gandhi, S. Shamala, R. Subashini and the recent case of S. Deepa, who were involved with tussles with their Muslim convert husbands over custody of their unilaterally converted Muslim children.
“It is high time the federal government takes the lead by stepping in and resolving this problem once and for all.”
He said the necessary amendments to the federal Constitution proposed were:
(i) Article 12(4) of the federal Constitution should be amended to the effect that there should not be, and cannot be, any conversion of the religion of any child by a single parent unilaterally. Any conversion of religion of any child shall be mutually agreed upon by both the parents until the child attains the age of 18.
(ii) Article 121 or Article 121(1A) of the federal Constitution should be amended to empower civil courts to resolve disputes and issues involving marriages that were registered under the civil law, regardless of the fact that a spouse had subsequently converted to the faith of Islam.
Choo said it was simply improper and incorrect for the syariah courts to have jurisdiction over such cases where the marriage was entered into under the civil law initially.
He noted that the problem stemmed from Article 12(4) of the federal Constitution where the Federal Court had previously held that any one of the parents may convert a child’s religion unilaterally, as well as the conflict of jurisdiction between the civil courts and the syariah courts that resulted from Articles 121 and 121(1A) of the federal Constitution.
