PENANG Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy has criticised Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Idris Ahmad for saying that the Federal Court ruling requiring consent from both parents in converting a minor to Islam was only an “interpretation” of the Federal Constitution.
The Perai assemblyman said that it was “beyond belief” that Idris, as a federal minister, would call the apex court’s ruling on the consent of both parents as a mere “interpretation”.
“This was simply a diversionary tactic employed by Idris to skirt the matter of the implications of conflict between federal and state laws,” Ramasamy said.
“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 the minors.
“By calling the landmark Federal Court ruling a mere ‘interpretation’, Idris has questioned and ridiculed the highest law of the land – the Federal Constitution.”
Ramasamy also pointed out that Idris is not a religious official of a state but a federal minister who is in charge of Muslim religious affairs in the country as a whole.
“It is expected that Idris, in keeping with his federal functions, must be fully cognisant of both state and federal laws especially when there was a conflict,” he commented.
“He was 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 Siew Hong’s children should not be challenged.”
In his statement Ramasamy went on to urge Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob 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”.
He also said that at the same time the federal government especially Attorney-General Tan Sri Idrus Harun should direct all state legal departments to ensure that state laws conform to federal laws.
Idris had made his remark in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (March 17) while responding to a question by Sungai Buloh MP R. Sivarasa on what the Government was doing to standardise shariah laws in the states with regard to unilateral conversions based on the Federal Court ruling.
The minister had also said that when it came to the conversion of minors the state laws must be respected. – March 18, 2022
