KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — A DAP lawmaker today asked authorities to clarify if their inaction over a Muslim convert’s abduction of his son in an interfaith custody fight would extend similarly to the Hindu mother.

Seputeh MP Teresa Kok urged the Home Ministry and Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to state if their decision was only in deference to a shariah court order or whether this also applied to a conflicting Seremban High Court ruling.

“I wish to ask Zahid and IGP what will be their response to this question posed by many netizens — is it acceptable if Deepa snatches her son back from her ex-husband?” Kok asked in a statement today.

Yesterday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi expressed support for the IGP’s position of not pursuing Muslim convert Izwan Abdullah (formerly N. Viran), who forcibly took his son from his ex-wife S. Deepa after losing custody to her in the Seremban court.

“What has been mentioned by the IGP... that is the official stand by KDN,” he said at a press conference after speaking at the Putrajaya Forum 2014 here, referring to his ministry by its Malay initials.

Today, Kok also pressed Putrajaya to state its official stand on the controversy, pointing out that Cabinet ministers were now contradicting each other on the issue.

While Zahid has backed the police’s position that it cannot act against the Muslim convert, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz last week called the case clear-cut “kidnapping” when criticising the police for holding back.

Nazri pointed out that as a non-Muslim union had been formed in this matter, the civil High Court was the correct authority to decide the custody battle.

Kok reminded Putrajaya that former de facto law minister Nazri’s position was consistent with the last known Cabinet stance on the issue.

“The Cabinet made a fair decision in April 2009 when it decided that children be raised in the ‘common religion at the time of marriage’ should one of their parents convert,” she said.

On April 7, the Seremban High Court had granted Deepa full custody of her two children ― a nine-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son ― with Izwan who later embraced Islam after they got married.

The ruling said the couple’s marriage was a civil union and was outside the jurisdiction of the Shariah courts.

But 48 hours after losing the custody dispute in the civil court, Izwan ― who was earlier granted child custody by the Shariah court ― took their son from outside his estranged wife’s house in Jelebu, Negri Sembilan.

The case reflects the continued complexity that arises due to Malaysia’s ostensibly dual-track legal system, with a civil law that applies universally and a shariah law that is restricted to Muslims.