Bar: Constitution already clear on parents’ consent

ACR: Those commenting on this must understand what Article 160 says and Christopher has explained this countless times. Article 160(1) empowers the 11th Schedule of the federal constitution which says references to male also denotes the female and likewise references to the singular includes the plural (when interpreting the constitution).

Section 12(4) says the religion of a person under 18 shall be decided by his parent or guardian. Interpreting the constitution based on 160, 12(4) means the religion of a person under 18 shall be determined by his/her parent/s or guardian/s. What is so difficult for anyone to understand?

Kim Quek: Since the federal constitution is already crystal clear that child conversion must have the concurrence of both parents, and issues relating to civil marriage such as child custody must be settled in the civil court (and not syariah court), there is no possible justification for the attorney-general (AG) to apply to the court to intervene; neither should he go to the Federal Court to seek an interpretation.

The AG is obviously playing Umno politics. If he is faithful to his sworn duty as chief legal adviser to the agong and government to uphold the constitution, then he should simply and promptly have advised the errant and recalcitrant IGP and the government to act according to the constitution.

Apa Nama: Bar Council president Christopher Leong, besides being “obtuse” as you may have suspected, I believe it more of pretence. They are all pretending to be obtuse. Everything is done on pretence and drama in the name of defending Islam.

It is a well-known fact that only in Islam ala‑Umno Baru in Malaysia where a non‑Muslim marrying a Muslim needs to convert to become Muslim. There is no such thing even in Singapore or even in India or UK to name a few.

This one example should be able to speak volumes. So Christopher, it is not ignorance, of being obtuse or even not understanding English. It is sheer pretence, drama and stubbornness. They are doing this purposely, and waiting to see what would happen.

This is more towards being provocative. Of course non‑Muslim will suffer. What can we do? All the non‑Muslim and right thinking Muslims should join hands and must attack these few radical bigots in a polite and professional way until they give up. We should not give up. They should.

Anonymous_1396929433: Christopher Leong, now you know why they don’t understand the constitution. When you use the word “obtuse”, those idiots will not know the meaning. Next time just use the word “bodoh sombong”.

That former Perkasa leader Zulkifli Noordin although he claims he is a lawyer, does not understand this word.

Odin: Anyone with even a semblance of common sense and of a predisposition to being reasonable would interpret the singular word ‘parent’ to mean the ‘both parents’. It defies logic that the technician who drafted that part of the federal constitution had meant the singular parent.

If he had meant the singular parent, he would have written ‘For the purpose of Clause (3) the religion of a person under the age of 18 years shall be decided by either one of his parents or either one of his guardians’.

He had not simply because it was already, or would be, stated in Section 2(95) in the Eleventh Schedule that the singular included the plural and vice versa.

There is also the possibility that he had in fact written ‘parents’, but during typesetting the letter ‘s’ at the end of ‘parents’ had been omitted, and when the proofs of the document were proofread, the omission was missed, and as a result the final document contained the word ‘parent’.

Typesetting in those days was done manually – picking lead sticks with letters, numbers, punctuation‑marks and typographical symbols (called types) one by one, and assembling them in a tray to form words and figures and punctuated sentences.

The probability of making mistakes was high. Today, typesetting with word‑processing programmes makes the word easier and faster, but the typesetter can still make mistakes. During the proofreading stage, the proofreader(s) also can make mistakes.

The refusal on the part of certain parties to reject the obvious meaning of Article 12(4) can be attributed to only one thing – the misinterpretation is consonant with their interests.

The whole thing is the same as the weird interpretation of the phrase ‘in peace and harmony’ submitted by the Court of Appeal judges in the case of The Herald.

Samurai: Leong in supporting the AG’s move is barking up the wrong tree. The AG says he is intervening because it is “public interest”, but interest to whom?

Why should a custody battle between two adults be any of our business? Except in this case, it happens a Muslim is on the losing end and in the age of Umno at its most rabid ketuanan Melayu-Islam phase, it is to their interests only.

Now, I can foresee in future the case of a Muslim who robs a non-Muslim would be deemed a “sensitive matter” and one of “public interest” when the robber gets sent to jail. Let’s see if the Federal Court will be roped in to intervene.

Commentable: Unilateral conversion of minors is not only unconstitutional, it is also unconscionable. Religion cannot be force fed down any minor’s throat, especially one that does not allow the option of remedy later in life when the minor has reached adulthood.

There shouldn’t be any need to have laws to regulate this in the first place, when all it takes is basic moral instinct to see what’s right or wrong. Religious preference is always subjective and must never be dictated by force due to herd or tribal mentality.

2 Tim 1:7: It is not merely a matter of semantics. As Umno, the NGO’s allied to it and its Police wing (i.e. the PDRM) whittle away at the authority of the federal constitution, syariah law will emerge as the new federal constitution.

But opportunists in MCA, MIC and Gerakan think that it will never happen. Why? They set great store by the assurances of a flip flop, backtracking and mendacious leader who also suffers from congenital satyriasis.

LAWofKARMA: In my opinion, I feel it’s more of a selective interpretation when it suits the BN government. Period.

Cry, My Beloved Country: Those who do not understand the constitution are obtuse by deliberate choice.

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