ATTORNEY-GENERAL (AG) Tan Sri Idrus Harun’s mooting of the government making the Bahasa Malaysia (BM) edition of the Federal Constitution as the authoritative version of the supreme law in Malaysia has been criticised by non-governmental organisation (NGO) the Global Human Rights Federation (GHRF).
For context, Idris in his speech when opening of Legal Year 2023 in Putrajaya yesterday (Jan 9) had proposed that “if there is a discrepancy or contradiction between the English and Malay version in the constitution, the Malay version shall prevail”.
“This statement by the AG does not portray a good image towards the objective of the newly formed unity government,” GHRF president S. Shashi Kumar told FocusM.
“It can set off alarm bells especially with regards to Article 12(4) which is not consistent whereby the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Constitution mentions that only the consent of “ibu atau bapa” (father or mother) is required to convert minors which is morally and religiously incorrect”.
The onus here lies on the intention of the individual or the group of people who translated “parent” into “ibu atau bapa” when the correct translation should be “ibu bapa”, according to Shashi.
“I’m very sure it would have been referred and reviewed by the government’s legal team,” contended Shashi. “Hence, what is the motive and modus operandi of the AG who should be resolving the misinterpretation and correcting the Malay version instead of proposing to maintain and officiate the Malay version.”
Highlighting his concern, Shashi pointed to the numerous cases of children being converted to Islam without the knowledge of their spouses under the guise of unilateral conversions. In 2006 T. Saravanan who converted to Islam, converted all his children’s into Islam without the knowledge, concern and approval of the children’s mother.
Many similar cases such as this has taken place in this country with Chang Ah Mee, Shamala Sathiyseelan, S. Deepa, M. Indra Ghandhi, S. Kaliammal and Loh Siew Hong who suffered the same fate due to the inconsistency of the BM version of the Federal Constitution which renders that only the consent of “ibu atau bapa” is required to convert minors.
Addressing such contradiction and constraint, Shashi said there are provisions found in laws translated from their original version in English to Malay that in case of doubts, “the original English version shall prevail”.
“Therefore, the AG should first correct the Malay translation of Article 12(4) of the Constitution so that it reads “ibu bapa” and not undermining the rights of non-Muslims in this country,” he asserted.
“Moreover, the AG’s duties are to give legal advice and views to the Malaysian government in accordance with the principles of international law by taking into account the policy of Malaysian government, public policy interest and domestic laws.”
As Malaysia being part of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the term of 2022-2024 (having been elected on Oct 15, 2021), Shashi stressed that Malaysia is obliged to uphold the 30 articles as enshrined under United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 (UDHR). – Jan 10, 2023
