Kuala Lumpur – MIC President Datuk Seri Dr S.Subramaniam has called on the respective authorities to find a solution to the on-going problems of parents who face similar predicament as that of Indira Gandhi.
“MIC views with great discomfort the recent Court of Appeal decision on the Indira Gandhi case. This has once again reopened the Pandora’s Box on the vulnerability of a non-Muslim parent in being able to protect the religious status of her child in the case of unilateral conversion of the child by the other spouse” Subra said in a press statement released yesterday.
“The constitutional provision pertaining to this issue, the elements of law provided in the Law Reform (Marriages and Divorce) Act 1976 and the controversy over the interpretation of Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution were discussed at length in various levels of the Government including the Cabinet in 2009. There was an attempt to amend the Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) Act 1984 to help resolve some of these issues. Unfortunately there were some hurdles in moving this forward” commented Subra.
Subra, who is also the Health Minister, said that the Prime Minister had on many occasions stated that this issue should be resolved by taking into consideration the rights of the unconverted non-Muslim parent and that of the Muslim parent and he had also asked respective agencies to come forward with effective solutions to end this problem.
“Unfortunately the issue remains unsolved. The right of the unconverted non-Muslim mother in determining the religion of her minor child still remains vulnerable with no evident protection within our judicial system as exemplified by the recent judgment. The MIC is deeply disappointed with the current situation and remains committed in finding a speedy and effective resolution to this problem through the Cabinet and the offices of the Prime Minister” Subra further said in his statement.
