Malaysia withdraws a controversial Islamic law

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Malaysia has withdrawn a highly controversial Islamic law to facilitate minorities and protect their rights. The law stated that one parent’s consent is sufficient to change the religion of a child. Authorities withdrew the law on Saturday and claimed to make sure that both parents are on board on the religious conversion of a child.

Recently, a young Hindu woman complained that her Muslim husband changed the religion of their children without her consent. Her husband was a recent convert. Under Sharia law, a non-Muslim parent cannot share custody of converted children. Such incidents have been putting a lot of pressure on the present lawmakers to take difficult decisions.

“If the law had been pushed through, it would definitely cause tensions in society because the law seems to favor Muslims while other minorities would be denied justice,” said Tian Chua, an MP with People’s Justice Party led by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin confirmed that the cabinet has debated on the issues surrounding the status of a child’s religion in cases where one parent has converted to Islam.

“We agreed that the bill’s withdrawal was necessary to ensure that such cases were resolved in a fair manner to all,” he affirmed.

According to interfaith group Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism, the Federal Territories Bill was unconstitutional and demanded the government to withdraw it.

“Any conversion of a minor by a single parent will cause serious injustice to the non-converting parent and the children of the marriage,” the group said in a statement.