LETTER | Court ruling not 'interpretation' but constitutional decision

LETTER | Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Idris Ahmad must be either in slumberland or pretending federal laws must take cognisance of state laws or enactments on religious conversions.

For Idris (above), state laws must be respected on conversion matters as the 2018 Federal Court ruling was merely an “interpretation” of the Constitution.

He was replying to the question posed by Pakatan Harapan’s Sungai Buloh MP R Sivarasa as to why the federal government had not engaged the states in synchronising laws that are not consistent with Federal Court rulings on the religious conversion of minors.

Idris said when it came to the conversion of minors, state laws must be respected.

However, he said what was important was the question of the children’s welfare and how they were brought up by both Muslim and non-Muslim families.

This was simply a diversionary tactic employed by Idris to skirt the matter of the implications of the conflict between federal and state laws.

If such kinds of statements had come from the Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin, then it would be not surprising at all as he is known for his religious bigotry towards the non-Muslims in the country.

It was he who defended the Perlis state law on the religious conversion of single mother Loh Siew Hong’s three underaged children as it required the consent of only one parent.

Anyway, Idris is not a religious official of a state but a federal minister in charge of religious affairs in the country as a whole.

It is expected that, in keeping with his federal functions, Idris must be fully cognisant of both state and federal laws especially when there is a conflict.

He is not expected to play politics with the law to basically take the side of the Perlis religious authorities as to why the conversion of single mother Loh’s children should not be challenged.

As it is, the Perlis religious department has already sought an investigation via the High Court as to why the religious status of the three underaged children should be maintained.

Basically, a third party intervention with no bearing on the custody of the three children as they are now under the custody of the mother.

A frivolous and vexatious intervention to say the least. An argument that is in line with the indefensible stand of the Perlis Islamic religious department.

I understand that the court hearing of the matter is scheduled for April 29.

It is beyond belief that Idris as a federal minister would call the federal court’s ruling on the consent of both parents as mere “interpretation”.

If this is so, maybe he should be telling the public what steps the government is taking to nullify the federal court ruling in the case of M Indira Gandhi in 2018.

His statement calling the federal court ruling an “interpretation” is an affront to the Constitution of the country.

It is beyond imagination that a federal minister would stoop so low to demean and question a constitutional ruling on the matter of religious conversion of minors.

By calling the landmark federal court ruling a mere “interpretation”, Idris questioned and ridiculed the highest law of the land - the Constitution.

There could be no higher crime than Idris’ questioning and ridiculing the Constitution.

I urge the prime minister to take immediate action by firing Idris and replacing him with someone more knowledgeable about the laws in the country especially when state laws are in contradiction with federal laws.

At the same time, the federal government, especially the Attorney General, rather than remaining a silent spectator of events in the country, to direct all state legal departments to ensure state laws conform to federal laws.

P RAMASAMY is Penang deputy chief minister 2 and the Perai state assemblyperson.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.