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Tuesday, 30 June 2009

Conference Of Rulers wants to get views of religious councils first

KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 – The 217th (special) meeting of the Conference of Rulers, which was held Istana Negara here today, has decided to get the views of the respective state religious councils first before arriving at a decision on the matter of conversion of minors to Islam.

As such, the Conference of Rulers decided to defer its decision on proposed amendments to state enactments on the matter, said a statement issued by the Keeper of the Rulers' Seal.

The meeting which lasted over two hours was chaired Raja Perlis Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Jamalullail. Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin also attended the meeting.

All the sultans and the Yang Dipertuas Negeri attended the meeting except the sultans of Kelantan, Pahang and Perak.

Kelantan was represented by the Regent, Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra Sultan Ismail Petra, Pahang by the Tengku Mahkota, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, and Perak by the Regent, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah Sultan Azlan Shah Terengganu was represented by the President of the Regency Advisory Council, Tengku Seri Panglima Raja Tengku Baderulzaman Sultan Mahmud.

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong is the Sultan of Terengganu.

On April 22, the Cabinet made a decision that minors could remain in the religion of their parents at the time of their marriage, even if their mother or father later converted to another religion.

The Cabinet was of the view that conversionS could not be used as an excuse to automatically dissolve a marriage or to get custody of children.

It also agreed that any individual wishing to change religion should first settle any outstanding issues with his or her spouse, to avoid innocent parties, especially children becoming victims.

Matters concerning Islam come under state jurisdiction in the federation. The Rulers are the head of Islam in their respective states. – Bernama

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