KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 — An MCA leader is calling on MPs across the political divide to vote against a proposed law that allows unilateral conversion of minor children to Islam, describing it as unconstitutional and a trap for non-Muslims.

MCA deputy publicity chief Loh Seng Kok’s (picture) statement comes amid public uproar over the Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Bill 2013, with a proposed clause sparking renewed worries regarding the rights of non-Muslim parents in legal battles over the right to custody of their children.

“I implore all our seven MCA members of Parliament to vote against this Bill.

“Better yet, I urge all the seven MCA legislators to corral the MPs from other political parties irrespective of political coalition to put forward a collective voice against this clearly one-sided section 107(b),” Loh said in a statement yesterday, referring to a clause in the Bill that was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday.

Loh further urged lawmakers to affirm a Cabinet ruling in 2009 by giving it legal effect and turning it into law.

“On 22 April 2009, the Cabinet had decided that if either spouse were to convert to Islam, the children should follow the faith that the parents had agreed on at the time of marriage, or implied by their common religion,” he said.

He said that different cases showed that the public had gone against Cabinet’s decision, with parents bringing their minor children to religious authorities for rushed conversion of religion without letting their spouses know.

Loh also said that section 107 (b) appears to undermine Article 12 (4) of the Federal Constitution, the country’s supreme law.

Under section 107 (b), it says that for those below 18, either a mother or a father or a guardian can give consent for the minor to convert to Islam, while Article 12 (4) states that “the religion of a person under the age of eighteen years shall be decided by his parent or guardian”.

Loh listed a few other clauses in the Federal Constitution as well as other laws that illustrated the need for both parents to give their consent together.

“Malaysia will be unable to fulfil our international obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) if only one parent may unilaterally determine the religion of the minor child,” he said.

“On a deeper realm, besides running ultra vires the Federal Constitution, section 107(b) in the Bahasa Malaysia version calling for ‘ibu atau bapa or penjaga’ (mother or father or guardian) appears designed to undermine the Federal Constitution and trap non-Muslims into conversion issues,” the MCA central committee member said.

He stressed that the MCA’s stand in disputes over a minor’s religion is that the child keeps his faith at the time of his birth until he turns 18.

Yesterday, Malaysia’s largest non-Muslim interfaith group blasted the Cabinet for being “insincere” in preventing unilateral child conversion to Islam, pointing to the latter’s tabling of the proposed law despite expressly banning such moves in 2009.

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) — the umbrella body of Malaysia’s non-Muslim creeds — had pointed to an “unconstitutional” attempt to broaden the definition of parental consent in the conversion of children under the age of 18 to mean either instead of both parents.

The Bar Council had yesterday also noted that the intent of the Bill violates the spirit of the Federal Constitution.

Custodial tussles in cases of unilateral child conversion provide a high-profile glimpse of the concerns of Malaysia’s religious minorities over the perceived dominance of Islam in the country.

It also highlights the complications of Malaysia’s dual legal systems where Muslims are bound by both civil and syariah laws, the latter of which do not apply to or recognise non-Muslims.