Husband wants Federal Court to decide on ‘Muallaf’ issues
Lee Chang Yong has commenced a judicial review to quash the conversions of his eight year-old daughter and three year-old son to Islam by his wife, Teng Wai Yee, also known as Aleena Abdullah.
(FMT) – A husband, having found out his Muslim-convert wife unilaterally converted their two children, is challenging the decision of the Federal Territories Islamic religious department (Jawi), “Muallaf” (converts) registry among others for registering his children as professing the Islamic faith.
Lee Chang Yong has commenced a judicial review to quash the conversions of his eight year-old daughter and three year-old son to Islam by his wife, Teng Wai Yee, also known as Aleena Abdullah.
He is also seeking to stop the Muallaf registry and its’ relevant agents from registering the siblings as Muslim as well as an order to revoke any form of registration of the siblings in the converts’ register that is kept by Jawi and the Muallaf registry.
The judicial review by Lee is also seeking a declaration that the siblings’ certificates of conversion are null and void and a declaration that the children were unlawfully converted.
The judicial review was filed on June 14.
Lee also stated that on a matter of public interest, he wants to refer to the Federal Court on issues pertaining to jurisdiction of the civil courts to review the actions of the Muallaf registry as a public authority in exercising their statutory powers under the Administration of the Laws of Islam (Federal Territories) Act.
Besides that Lee, a businessman, wants the apex court to determine if a child of a marriage under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act or LRA who has not reached 18 years old must comply with Sections 85(1) and 95(b) of the Administration of the Laws of Islam (Federal Territories) Act or any similar Islamic laws across the states before the Muallaf registry or its’ delegates can register the conversion of such a child.
He wants the Federal Court to decide if both parents (mother and father), of a civil marriage, must give their consent before a certificate of conversion to Islam can be issued.
