Conversion law withdrawal: 'Moral victory, not legal victory'

The Cabinet's decision to withdraw the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Federal Territories) Bill 2013 was applauded by several lawyers and activists.

However, the experts, panels in a Bar Council forum here, cautioned that more must be done to holistically come to a fair conclusion on the long-standing issue on religious law in the country.

“It is a moral and political victory… but whether it is a legal victory I am not so sure,” said lawyer-activist Malik Imtiaz Sarwar during the forum: “How secular is our Constitution?”

Malik said that the Government, especially the Attorney-General, should go further to make the law uniform in all states to reflect the position that both parents’ consent is required to convert a child to Islam.

He noted that there were still some states where the Islamic law allows for unilateral conversion of a child for a single parent.

“The Attorney-General has a big role to play to ensure there is consistency in all state legislation. We can’t look at this in a piecemeal fashion, but holistically,” he said.

He said that the Government must be sensitive to the fact that there has been unfairness in custody disputes. He cited instances where One spouse converts to Islam and then unilaterally converts a child to Islam to set up proceedings in Syariah court.

“It’s a good thing that due recognition was given to the fact that the Constitutional imperative is geared towards equality,” he explained.

“If you look at the interpretation of the provision its talks of the singular used to denote the plural. The

withdrawal is consistent with that and I welcome it.

“Problem has been with the government has for awhile now. It is issue that has to be settled between federal and state with more meaningful discussion,” he said.

Malik noted that the climate is right for civil society and other stakeholders to further talk about the issue.

“At the moment there seems to be a shift towards inclusiveness in the way we look at these things, for example BN component parties are more open to discuss,” he said.

Concurring with Malik, syarie lawyer Nizam Bashir said that there has been cases where a spouse which was frustrated by the situation leaving the country because she was unable to get fairness and equality in the courts.

“If one parent goes to the Syariah court only dealing with the dispute only in the Islamic perspective, then the other parent are left out in the cold,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa of think tank Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) said that he was optimistic but was unsure if the Government was sincere in resolving the issue.

“We are still waiting for the outcome of the whole issue. In the first place, why was this done? For them to come up with this right after the election shows that there were ulterior motive…I think they were scared to disclose the bills before election they may face repercussions,” he said.

Ahmad Farouk said that the Quranic verse which says ‘there should be no coercion in religion’ meant that

the child should actually be free to make his or her own choice when she grew up.

“How they are being raised are not a matter of concern, but in actual fact, both parents have equal rights.

One parent should not have more right than the other.

He said that the government should not “bulldoze the laws just because we are inclined towards the muslims”.

“We must have mutual consensus and debate. We must be given the right to discuss any laws that affects the lives of both muslims and non-muslims."