Malaysiakini.com (http://www.malaysiakini.com)
Religious conversion: Rulers' help sought , 22 April 2009
by S Pathmawathy
An embattled Hindu wife whose three children were converted to Islam by her estranged husband is seeking the intervention of the Conference of Malay Rulers to solve the matter.
She would be seeking the rulers' help through the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) which said today that it would approach the rulers to help solve the predicament of the mother, M Indira Ghandi.
Council president A Vaithilingam said the council would be writing to the Keeper of the Rulers' Seal requesting that the Conference of Malay Rulers intervene in this particular case.
"The rulers are responsible for the religion of Islam in their respective states and the king is responsible for the country.
"As we are all their subjects, so we call upon the rulers to see that there is justice and fair play for all of us," he said.
The inter-religion affairs council - which held a two-hour meeting this morning with 35-year-old Indira - expressed their disappointment with act of the Syariah Court in Perak which granted custody of her three children to her husband without her knowledge.
"The children were born to a couple married under civil law, therefore until the civil court has decided on a divorce, if there is one and on alimony and custody, the children cannot be converted," said Vaithilingam.
"The conversion of the children, to us, is illegal as we believe that all those who are below 18 years of age should be allowed to decided on their faith only when they old enough," he added.
Children's schooling affected
Indira's plight came about after her husband, K Patmanathan, 40, converted to Islam without her knowledge on March 11 and kept it a secret until an argument between the two exposed the matter.
In an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini, Indira recounted how her husband had snatched their one-year-old toddler Prasana Diksa from her during the heated argument.
She said he then fled along with a bag containing the birth certificates of their two older children, Tevi Darsiny, 12, and Karan Dinesh, 11, as well as documents pertaining to her educational qualifications.
Indira claimed that her husband, who has since assumed the name Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah, had then converted the three children on April 12 without their presence and using only their birth certificates.
Her husband then attempted to pass her the Syariah Court notice granting him custody of the two older children but failed as Indira refused it accept it. The two older children are staying with Indira.
Redzuan had then sent the notice to the children's school and succeeded in halting Indira's efforts to transfer the two older children to another school.
"The way things are going, I don't know if this (case) is going to be the last," lamented Vaithilingam.
"Indira is living a nightmare and she is in fear as she is expecting them (the Islamic Affairs Department officials) to take her children away from her," he said.
‘Promised so many times'
When the issue hit headlines last week, the cabinet appointed a five-minister committee to find an amicable solution as there are no clear guidelines under the law pertaining to the conversion to Islam of minors born in a civil marriage.
The ministers tasked to look for a long-term solution are Ministers in the Prime Minister's Department Koh Tsu Koon (Unity), Jamil Khir Baharom (Islamic Affairs) and Nazri Abdul Aziz (Law and Parliament) as well as Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam and Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Jalil.Vaithilingam, who met the five ministers yesterday, said they told him that they were sympathetic to Indira's predicament and gave their assurance that it would be solved soon.
"But this assurance has yet to materialise [...] we don't want to reconvene again with another man or woman who has become another victim," said Vaithilingam.
He reiterated the MCCBCHST was not against Islam but stressed that the conversion process should be more stringent in tandem with the reform of existing family laws.
"We were promised so many times that there would be reforms to family laws to ensure that such a situation will not reoccur. Yet here we are again [...] no attempts have been made to make the changes although there has been a lot of talk of reform," said Vaithilingam.
He said grey areas under the law dealing with conversion should have been resolved ever since the controversy following the death of famous mountaineer M Moorthy, popularly known as 'Everest Moorthy', who was buried with Muslim rites despite his family's claim that he had not converted.
The council appealed for a quick resolution to the Indira case as the pressure had taken a heavy toll on the young family.
"Frankly, since the council had been formed in 1983, we have achieved very little," said Vaithilingam, adding that he hoped that Indira's youngest child, who is with her father, would be reunited with the mother.
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