KUALA LUMPUR: An opposition lawmaker wants amendments made to the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act to stop unilateral conversion of minors by a spouse who has embraced Islam. DAP MP for Ipoh Barat M Kulasegaran said a long lasting solution must be found or else cases of such nature would recur.

“Section 51 of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act must be clarified to give a proper remedy to the non-converting spouse,” he told a forum on Tamil awakening in Butterworth yesterday.

Kulasegaran, a lawyer, said section 51 stated that the High Court, upon dissolving the marriage, may make provision for a spouse and for the support, care and custody of the children of the marriage, maintenance and division of property.

He said the civil court may also attach any conditions to the dissolution as it thinks fit. However, he said section 51 of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act was unclear when one of the spouses converted to Islam. A non-Muslim spouse could not go to the Syariah Court as the religious court was exclusive to persons professing the religion of Islam.

“Section 51 should be strengthened as it is the only remedy for a spouse when the other partner in the civil marriage has converted to Islam,” he added.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail last week said unilateral conversion had resulted in a new conflict between civil and Shariah laws. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 17, 2014.