KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 — Hindu mother Loh Siew Hong has cleared the first legal hurdle in challenging her three children’s unilateral conversion of her children to Islam by her ex-husband without her consent.
High Court Judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh granted leave to Loh for her judicial review against the unilateral conversion of her three children.
“Her application for leave is not frivolous. Instead, she has an arguable case,” the judge said.
For lawsuits filed through judicial review, applicants must first apply for leave — essentially permission — from the court before their arguments can be heard.
In Loh’s case, she is contesting her ex-husband’s move to change their three underaged children’s religion from Hinduism to Islam without her knowledge and consent in 2019.
She named the Registrar of Mualaf, Religious and Malay Customs Council of Perlis, besides Perlis state mufti Datuk Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin and the Perlis state government as respondents.
Wan Ahmad Farid said Loh had not exceeded the time limit of three months as set in the Rules of Court 2012 when she filed her leave application after her lawyers had written to the Registrar of Mualaf to ascertain the conversion to Islam in March.
Order 53, Rule 3(6) of the Rules of Court requires judicial review applications to be made within three months from the date when the grounds of the application is first made available.
Loh filed her application the same month after receiving her reply.
Loh was represented by Shamsher Singh Thind while senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly appeared for the Attorney General's Chambers.
The Registrar of Muallaf, Mohd Asri and the Perlis state government were represented by Perlis assistant legal adviser Ainul Wardah Shahidan while Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla appeared for the Religious and Malay Customs Council of Perlis.
Among others, Loh is seeking declarations that her children are Hindu and that the children are legally unfit to embrace Islam without her approval.
She is also seeking a declaration that her former husband, Muhammad Nagashwaran Muniandy is legally unfit to allow the Registrar of Muallaf to convert their children without her approval.
Furthermore, Loh is seeking a certiorari — Latin for quashing order — to reverse her children’s registration of conversion to Islam dated July 7, 2020 issued by the registrar.
She is also seeking a declaration that the Perlis state’s legal provision that allows for one parent to unilaterally convert a child is unconstitutional.
Loh obtained full and sole custody of all three children in March 2021 after being separated from them, allegedly due to her ex-husband’s actions, and the nationwide lockdown due to Covid-19.
The single mother was finally reunited with the children on February 21 this year, after the High Court granted her a writ of habeas corpus and ordered their immediate release from the various shelters where they had been held after their separation.
