Missing royal support not legal barrier to changing conversion laws, says legal expert
(Malay Mail Online) – The government can push through legal amendments to prevent the unilateral religious conversion of children even if the Agong does not assent, said a constitutional law expert
Lawyer New Sin Yew said that according to Article 66 of the Federal Constitution, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has 30 days to assent to a Bill passed by both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara, failing which the Bill would still become law anyway, as if the ruler had assented to it.
“The government can push through the amendments since they have majority in Parliament and it will become law one way or another after 30 days of the Bill being presented to the YDPA,” New told Malay Mail Online, referring to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
The Cabinet had decided in 2009 to bar the unilateral conversion of children, but the proposed legal amendments to enforce this were later shelved following the intervention from the Conference of Rulers hours before they could be tabled in Parliament.
De facto law minister Nancy Shukri told Malay Mail Online that Putrajaya plans to table in Parliament amendments to the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976, the Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Act 1993 and the Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) Act 1984 to ensure that issues like child custody, alimony and division of marital assets are resolved in the court in which one’s marriage was registered.
The issue of conflicting jurisdiction between the Shariah and civil courts entered the spotlight again after the Court of Appeal upheld last month the unilateral conversion of M. Indira Gandhi’s three children to Islam. The Hindu woman’s ex-husband, who had converted to Islam, had converted the minors without her knowledge.
New said that before 1994, when Article 66 of the Federal Constitution was amended during the Mahathir administration, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had the power to return a Bill to Parliament for reconsideration and to state his reasons for objecting to the Bill.
Both Houses would then have to debate on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s objection and may pass the Bill again with or without amending it, present it to the Ruler again, upon which he would have to assent to the Bill within 30 days.
“The constitutional amendment to Article 66, which was proposed by Anwar Ibrahim, the then DPM and Finance Minister, had removed these provisions,” New said, referring to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s then deputy prime minister.
