Malaysia bans secret conversion of minors

Malaysia banned the forced conversion of children to Islam to quell unease among religious minorities in the mainly Muslim nation, the country's Legal Affairs Minister said on Thursday.

The decision follows the highly publicized case of Indira Gandhi, a 34-year-old ethnic Indian Hindu woman who faced losing custody of her three children after her estranged husband embraced Islam and then converted their children to the religion.

Cabinet minister Nazri Aziz, part of a high-level team charged with tackling the divisive issue, said the law would be changed so that children's conversions would not be allowed without both parents' consent. Minors were to be bound by the common religion of their parents while they were married even if one parent later becomes a Muslim.

"We have to resolve this once and for all. I don't think we should be deciding on a piecemeal basis every time a conversion issue crops up," Nazri said.

"We have decided on a long-term solution because we expect more cases will occur, being a multiracial country," he added.

Islamic law will also apply only from the point of a person's conversion to the religion and is not retrospective, he told a press conference.

Muslims, who make up around 65 percent of the Southeast Asian country's 27 million population, are bound by Islamic family laws, while civil laws apply to non-Muslims.

I don't think we should be deciding on a piecemeal basis every time a conversion issue crops up

Nazri Aziz, minister

Conversion rows, including "body-snatching" cases in which Islamic authorities have battled with relatives over the remains of people whose religion is disputed, are common in Malaysia, where the official religion in Islam.

The tussles have led to allegations that the country is being "Islamised" and that the rights of ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities are being eroded.

A. Vaithilingam, the head of Malaysia's multi-faith association, applauded the move by Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was sworn into power earlier this month with promises of wide-ranging reforms.

"It is a very good beginning as the recognition that a child will remain in his or her original faith despite the conversion of one parent is a welcome move," he told AFP.

"I see this as the beginning of the prime minister's attempt to try and reunite the various races and improve relations among Malaysians, and non-Muslims are very hopeful about this."

I see this as the beginning of the prime minister's attempt to try and reunite the various races and improve relations among Malaysians, and non-Muslims are very hopeful about this

A. Vaithilingam, multi-faith association

Nazri said the Attorney General had been instructed to look at the relevant legislation that would need to be amended to effect the decision and will seek consent from the Malay rulers -- titular heads in nine of Malaysia's 13 states who are in charge of Islamic affairs in their respective states.

There has been growing unease among Malaysia's mainly Chinese and Indian ethnic minorities who are mostly Buddhists, Christians and Hindus over numerous complaints of discrimination and unfair treatment by the authorities when seeking legal redress following cases of divorce and religious conversions.

The disquiet built up during the case of Lina Joy, a Malay Muslim who converted to Christianity at the age of 26 but was forced to endure a long legal battle to have her conversion legally recognized by the Malaysian courts.