FOLLOWING the reunion between Loh Siew Hong and her three children, Perlis mufti Datuk Asri Zainul Abidin vowed to retain her kids’ unilateral conversion to Islam.
“I was not surprised by the High Court’s decision to allow Loh’s habeas corpus so as to regain custody of her children.
“But I’m now looking at other measures which the law can provide to protect the children, if they wanted to remain Muslims.
“What we are defending is their religion and if they want to remain as Muslims,” Free Malaysia Today reported him as saying.
Earlier today, the High Court allowed Loh’s habeas corpus to recover the custody of her children, which in effect, quashed the illegal detention of the kids by the Perlis welfare department.
Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah reminded all quarters that the earlier court orders in 2017 and 2020 which granted sole custody of the children to Loh were still in effect, and should not be treated with impunity or risk being in contempt of court.
“The three children are to be released forthwith to the sole custody, care and control of the applicant (Loh),” Sequerah said during today’s open-court proceedings.
Despite Asri’s insistence on retaining the children as Muslims, his views contradict the Federal Court ruling in 2018, where the apex court had ruled a minor can only be converted with the consent from both parents.
On that note, Asri doubled down on his claims that Loh’s children refused to follow their mother, whom they had not seen in three years.
“Then Loh agreed that they be cared for by the social welfare department, and they were taken to Kedah instead of Perlis. We never stopped their mother from meeting them,” he mentioned.
However, Malaysiakini published a one-minute video of Loh with her children during one of her visits earlier today, where they said they wanted to go home with her. – Feb 21, 2022
