Malaysia
Report: Hindu mother Loh Siew Hong seeks to invalidate unilateral conversion of kids
Loh Siew Hong speaks during a press conference at Wisma Tamilar Kural, Perai, February 15, 2022. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Sayuti Zainudin

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 — The mother of three children who were taken away from her three years ago and unilaterally converted to Islam in Perlis is now seeking a declaration that her ex-husband was legally unfit to convert them.

In a report by Free Malaysia Today (FMT), it was said that Loh Siew Hong is also seeking a declaration that the Perlis state provision that allows for one parent to convert an underaged child as unconstitutional.

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She also wants a declaration that her three children — a pair of twin girls aged 11, and a boy aged 10 — are Hindus, and not Muslim, as they were legally incapable to embrace Islam without her consent.

Loh had named Registrar of Mualaf, the Religious and Malay Customs Council of Perlis, state mufti Datuk Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin and the state government as respondents in her judicial review application which was filed by Messrs Srimurugan & Co at the High Court registry today.

She also demanded that an order of certiorari to reverse the registration of conversion dated July 7, 2020 issued by the registrar and any official registration of her children’s conversion be struck from the records.

Loh’s children were taken away from her in 2019 while she was hospitalised with injuries she claimed were inflicted by her former husband, Nagashwaran Muniandy, who converted to Islam and subsequently converted the couple’s three children in secret. He has been reported to be currently in prison for drug offences.

In December 2019, Loh obtained interim custody of her children pending her divorce, but her court case was delayed when the country went into Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020; she finally obtained an order granting her full and sole custody in March 2021.

On February 21 this year, Loh was finally reunited with her children after the High Court granted her a writ of habeas corpus for an immediate release of her three children from alleged unlawful detention.

In delivering his decision and allowing Loh’s application, Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah said a December 2019 High Court interim ex-parte order and a March 2021 High Court final order which granted sole custody and full care of her children were still valid and enforceable.

A month later on March 17, the High Court issued an order for all mainstream media organisations and social media platforms not to expose and publish the names and pictures of Loh’s three children to protect them.

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