COMMENT Religious administrative decisions, court judgments and others are not the main cause of unilateral conversions or the discrimination of non-Muslims over decades. Rather, they are the product of a dominant discourse based on ethnicity and religion that have impacted on adversely on non-Muslims in our country.

The combination of ethnicity and religion (Malay and Islam) as the pillars of the dominant discourse of the ruling regime will continue to wreak problems for the non-Muslims/non-Malays!

The BN government has set up another cabinet committee to resolve the impasse arising from unilateral conversions. The members of this committee are Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz, Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam, who is also the president of the MIC, and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom.

All the three are supposed to work closely with the attorney-general and find a way to the persistent problem of unilateral conversion that arises if one of the parent converts to Islam and thereby converts the children without the consent of the other.

The case of Indira Gandhi (photo) and the torment she has undergone for the past nine years is testimony to how cruel and inhuman is the system of conversion that completely overrides the concerns of the non-Muslim parent.

Cabinet committees are nothing new in Malaysia. There have been many such committees in the past to resolve various problems. Whether these committees are meant for mere propaganda or whether they actually resolve national problems remains to be seen.

On the question of unilateral conversions, we had two committees before this. One was in 2009 and the other was in 2013. Sad to say, both the committees were unable to resolve the problem of unilateral conversion.

While we do not know the actual obstacles, we can only speculate that the Conference of Rulers could have thrown the spanners. If this was the reason, then cabinet committees are mechanisms that don’t have the teeth or the political will.

Another public relations execise?

This is precisely the reason why Malaysians are wondering whether the present cabinet committee will able to address the serious problems of unilateral conversions without the political will. If this simply going to be a public relations exercise, there is no point in establishing the committee in the first place.

Whether Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak will throw his weight behind the findings of this committee remains to be seen, for he himself is fighting for his own political survival, given the problems associated with 1MDB and the puzzling of entry of RM2.6 billion into his personal bank accounts!

There are three problems crucial to the resolution of the unilateral conversions that the present committee has to bear in mind.

First, the committee must be prepared to amend Section 51(1) of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act of 1976. This law currently provides for automatic dissolution of civil marriages if one of the spouses converts to Islam and the non-converted spouse needs a three-month interval to apply for divorce.

This is something totally unjust to non-Muslims and needs to be rectified, if the cabinet committee is interested in justice and fairness to all, irrespective of their religious persuasion.

Second, Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution only provides for the consent of “parent” and not “parents” before the conversion of the children into Islam. If this singular concept is not changed into plural, in other words, then there is possibility for one parent to take a unilateral approach in the conversion without the consent of other parent.

The cabinet committee must see to it that plural form of “parents” should be instituted by way of an amendment to the Constitution. This would allow the civil courts to have some teeth in striking down the administrative decisions of the Islamic state agencies on matters of religious conversions.

Conversions clearly ‘null and void’

Third, the committee should be aware that the conversions of the three children of Indira Gandhi were purely an administrative one and that the whole process of conversion was null and void from legal stand point. This was clearly recognised by an Ipoh High Court, but something sorely missed by the two judges in the Court of Appeals. However, the dissenting judge made this point loud and clear!

It is not that we want to dismiss the new cabinet committee, but we expect the members to do the work and have the necessary political will to bring about the required changes. Without these changes, the committee will be just a “paper tiger”.

As a backdrop, the committee should go beyond legislation, administrative requirements and court judgments to determine why unilateral conversions seem to be gaining ascendancy in the country.

The root of the problem lies not in the laws, procedures or even court judgments, but rather in the nature of politics that seem to dispense favour to those who believe in one set of beliefs and not to others.

In other words, it is the politics of hegemony of Umno that revolves around race and religion as the prime cause of the social misery in Malaysia, where one race or religion is pitted against those professing to other faiths!

This hegemony or the dominant discourse, strengthened for decades by opposition forces (in the name of religion), has wreaked havoc on the multi-racial and multi-religious harmony of this country.

Members of religious departments, judges and others who invariably happened to be of the same race and religion and who have been socialised into the dominant discourse will continue to be the main stumbling block for any progressive changes to come.

But politicians, being politicians, will have the least interest in resolving this problem as such a resolution might undermine the very base of their political support!

Ultimately, whether Malaysians will give in to decadent politics or progressive politics will have to be tested out in the coming general election. However, this might be just a starting point!

P RAMASASAMY is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang and the state assemblyperson for Perai.