PETALING JAYA: A little effort to check the facts could have prevented the recent furore over the alleged abduction and conversion to Islam of three children.
A lawyer from theSun spoke to point out that there is an existing database on missing children and all the authorities had to do was check the website to see if a report had been lodged.
Apart from that, there is also the National Urgent Response alert system, which is a national initiative to provide information related to missing children, said lawyer Nur A’minahtul Mardiah Md Nor.
In the recent case, divorcee Loh Siew Hong, 34, lodged a police report on Feb 12 alleging that the Perlis Islamic religious authority had taken custody of her children without her consent.
The case was brought to light on Sunday by Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy in a letter to a news portal.
Nur A’minahtul said any report on missing children filed since 2019 would have been entered into the website https://www.rmp.gov.my/news-detail/2016/07/14/kanak-kanak-hilang.
“The authorities, including police, should have links to the website.”
According to Ramasamy’s letter, Loh had sought shelter at a home for victims of abuse after she was allegedly mistreated by her husband.
The children, 14-year-old twin girls and a 10-year-old boy, were left in the custody of her husband and his mother while she was at the shelter.
When Loh left the shelter, she filed for and obtained a divorce and began looking for her children.
However, her former mother-in-law refused to provide any information on the children’s whereabouts.
Loh was later informed by another individual that the children were in the care of the Perlis religious authority.
She expressed fears that since her children were Hindus, her former husband could have had them embrace Islam before placing them in the care of the religious authority.
Ramasamy said the wrongful custody of the children brought back to focus the case of Indira Gandhi, who had fought for years to be reunited with her youngest child.
Another lawyer, Dinesh Muthal, said the Perlis mufti’s assertion that he did not know that Loh was looking for her children was not an excuse.
“The religious authority’s action has created unnecessary tension.”
He said the time has come for all agencies and religious departments to be given access to any database on missing children.
“This will enable them to check the religious status of each child who comes in with just one of the two parents to seek conversion.”
Under the law, the consent of both parents is required to convert a child to another religion.
Bagan Dalam assemblyman Satees Muniandy said Loh was only seeking to be reunited with her children.
“She has said that she is prepared to accommodate her children’s new religion as long as they are together,” Satees said, adding that Loh has filed at least nine police reports since 2019.
“They were separated when she left the family home in 2019 to seek refuge at a women’s shelter in Penang.”
In March last year, it was reported that Loh had been granted exclusive custody of her children after her husband was arrested and jailed for a drug related offence. However, she could not locate her children.
Satees said in January, Loh discovered that her children were staying at an Islamic hostel in Tasek Gelugor.
“But when she visited the hostel, she was told that the children had been moved elsewhere.”
After a lengthy discussion on Monday, it was agreed that the children be placed in the care of the Perlis Welfare Department pending the hearing of a habeas corpus application filed by Loh.
“Whatever has been said and done, regardless of family issues, Loh is the rightful guardian of the children,” said Satees.