Malay Mail
KUALA
LUMPUR, July 13 ― Deepa Subramaniam would not let go of her son,
clinging to five―year―old Mithran’s leg even as the car into which he
had been bundled began to accelerate.
The
30―year―old, a Hindu in Muslim―majority Malaysia, says she was dragged
along the stone―strewn road outside her house until she dropped to the
ground, scratched and sobbing, as her ex―husband drove off.
The
alleged abduction on April 9, detailed by Subramaniam in a police
report and witnessed by a neighbour, was a painful loss for the
mother―of―two, who has not seen Mithran since and fears her ex―spouse’s
conversion to Islam will win him custody.
The
case has become a focal point of tensions over the widening role of
Islam, which critics say is threatening Malaysia’s secular core and
exacerbating fraught relations between ethnic Malays, who are Muslims,
and minority Chinese and Indians.
Subramaniam’s
estranged spouse converted from Hinduism to Islam in 2012, after their
nine―year marriage broke down, taking the name Izwan Abdullah.
He
then converted Mithran and their now eight―year―old daughter to Islam,
giving him a strong case under Islamic law, or Shariah, to take over
their custody ― which a Shariah court granted him five months later.
“In
five minutes, the children read some verses and were converted,” said
Subramaniam. “In 10 years, he never gave us money, he enjoyed his life
and abandoned me countless times. Under what characteristic are they
giving my children to him?”
Subramaniam
fought back, last year obtaining a court protection order based on her
accounts of domestic violence and in April winning a high court ruling
that dissolved their marriage and gave her custody of the children.
Two days later Izwan took Mithran from outside her home in the town of Seremban, 60 km (37 miles) south of Kuala Lumpur.
Reuters
attempted to contact Izwan through his lawyers but did not receive a
response. In April, he told The Star newspaper that he had taken the boy
because he feared his ex―wife would turn the children away from Islam.
Secular or Islamic?
In
Subramaniam’s custody battle, and another similar case, Malaysia’s
national police chief, Khalid Abu Bakar, has declined to act on judges’
orders for children to be returned to their mothers, citing competing
orders from the civil courts and state Shariah courts. His stance has
been backed by the home minister.
Legal experts say that is an unprecedented challenge to the secular courts’ authority.
Politicians
and activists pushing for Islam to play a bigger role in society have
been on the advance since a May 2013 election that further polarised the
nation and left the government more reliant on Malay and Islamic
conservatives.
Prime
Minister Najib Razak, who casts himself globally as a leader of Islamic
moderation, is accused by critics of failing to take a stand against
emboldened Islamic officials and courts as he seeks to shore up his
party’s core Malay vote.
“After
the elections last year, somebody seems to have stepped on the gas
pedal and we are moving much more headlong to a situation where Islam is
enforced through all these institutions of state,” said Andrew Khoo, a
prominent lawyer.
Shariah
courts operate at the state level and have been limited to Muslim
family matters. Law experts say they had been recognised as subordinate
to civil courts, but the legal lines have become blurred as Shariah
courts have expanded their powers in recent years to areas such as
homosexuality and gambling.
“The
civil courts have totally abdicated whenever there is a whiff of an
Islamic issue,” said Shad Faruqi, a law professor at Malaysian
university UiTM. “We are witnessing a situation where a silent
re―writing of the constitution is taking place.”
Police
chief Khalid and the attorney―general, the country’s chief public
prosecutor, have applied to the Court of Appeal to intervene to
determine the jurisdiction of the courts.
Khalid and the attorney general’s office did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Peace and harmony
Islam’s
special role in the former British colony is enshrined in the
constitution, which defines it as the religion of the federation. But
the same article goes on to say that other religions may be practised in
“peace and harmony”, a provision that has been challenged by recent
events.
In
January, state Islamic authorities raided the office of a Christian
group and seized more then 300 copies of Malay language Bibles because
they contain the word “Allah”, which Christians here say they have used
for centuries.
The
use of the word has become a touchstone issue for conservative Muslim
groups, who declared victory in a protracted legal battle last month
when the nation’s top court ruled that a Catholic newspaper cannot use
the word to refer to God. The Islamic body has not returned the Bibles
and has said it will seize other publications, defying the attorney
general’s position that they are not illegal.
“Najib
is a moderate but I think he is under tremendous pressure from certain
quarters in the party,” said Saifuddin Abdullah, a former member of the
Supreme Council of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO)
who now heads the Global Movement of Moderates Foundation set up by
Najib.
“We are not the only ones who counsel him.”
The
minister for Islamic Affairs, Jamil Khir Baharom, said in June that
Malaysia was not a secular state and that the government was working to
expand Shariah.
Conversions, custody battles
Najib’s
cabinet said in 2009 that conversions by one parent should be halted,
but the decision was never passed into law. Rights advocates say it is
mostly husbands who convert to Islam seeking an upper hand in custody
disputes. Non―Muslims are not allowed to appear in Shariah courts.
“It
becomes a weapon to wield power over a wife ― ‘not only can I wield
power over you, but so can the whole state apparatus’,” said Ivy Josiah,
executive―director of the Women’s Aid Organisation.
In
one case, Hindu school teacher Indira Gandhi has been waiting four
years for police to act on a high court ruling that her convert husband
should hand back her daughter, now six. In May, a high court cited the
ex―husband for contempt.
Subramaniam
has filed more than 20 police reports against Izwan since their
marriage began to disintegrate and said he had shown no interest in the
Islamic faith before they separated. Police chief Khalid was reported in
April as saying that Izwan was being investigated over four of those
reports.
She
says she receives regular calls from government officials urging her to
convert to Islam as an “easy” way to get Mithran back.
“I
was given custody but he has my child; there’s no justice in Malaysia,”
said Subramaniam. “No religion tells us to separate a mother from her
children.” ― Reuters
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