KUALA LUMPUR (May 11): The High Court has dismissed single mother Loh Siew Hong’s bid to reverse the unilateral conversion of her three children to Islam.

In delivering his decision on Thursday (May 11), High Court judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh said there was no evidence that the three children had stopped professing the religion of Islam and that the welfare of the children should take precedence.

“Having regard to all the circumstances of the case, there is no evidence before me that the three children are not happy staying with the applicant (Loh). Although this is another issue, it is quite related to the instant case. There is no evidence that the three children have stopped professing the religion of Islam when they are under her care either.

“Therefore, the welfare of the children, within the meaning of Indira Ghandi, dictates that the status quo should remain,” he said.

Children had not stopped professing Islam even under Loh’s care

The High Court judge noted the Perlis Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIPs), who is the second respondent in this matter, had filed an affidavit where its chief executive officer (CEO) Mohd Nazim Haji Mohd Noor affirmed that the children had expressed their faith and determination to remain in the religion.

Mohd Nazim had said that the children expressed this through their actions and behaviour a day after they were in Loh’s custody in Feb 2022, where they were still performing Subuh prayers; one child even expressed an ambition to be a shariah lawyer in the future.

Loh, the judge noted, had denied this in her reply but found this to be a “bare denial”.

“However, [Loh] did not deny the affirmative assertion that the three children continued professing the religion of Islam in performing the daily Subuh prayers when they are in her custody,” he said.

The judge also said that there were no evidence before him to indicate that the children have reverted to the Hindu religion.

As the case was a matter of public interest, he made no order as to cost.

In August last year, the High Court granted leave (permission) for Loh to challenge the July 2020 conversion of her children — twin girls who are now 14-years-old and a boy who is now 11.

The single mother filed the judicial review application early last year, seeking declarations that her children are Hindu — her ex-husband M Nagashwaran’s religion prior to his conversion — and that the children are legally unfit to embrace Islam without Loh’s approval.

She was also seeking a declaration that her former husband is legally unfit to allow the Registrar of Mualaf to convert their children to Islam without her approval.

Loh was also seeking to reverse the registration of her children’s conversion to Islam in July 2020.

In her application, she also named the Perlis Registrar of Mualaf, state mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin and the state government as respondents.