DESPITE Islam being practised by the majority in the country, they have a responsibility to safeguard the rights of minorities, says Padang Rengas MP Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.

       The former law minister said this when touching on the issue of unilateral conversion during his debate in Dewan Rakyat, adding that Muslims had the responsibility to ensure that the rights and interests of the minority were taken care of.

       “Some 60% of the country are Muslims and under the Federal Constitution, Islam is the federal religion.

       “But if you don’t do what is supposed to be done, that means you are oppressing the minority.

       “Non-Muslims will live in fear because every time there is a fight between a non-Muslim husband and wife... they will convert,” he said.

       Nazri added that there had already been four or five such cases of this nature.

       He said this in reference to the unilateral conversion of single mother Loh Siew Hong’s three children to Islam by her ex-husband.

       “The father has no right to change the religion of his children unless he discusses it with his wife. If we allow the father to convert, then it is going to be a constructive conversion. This means we allow the conversion of a person without the approval of the mother. It is important that we do not allow this,” he told the Dewan Rakyat.

       Nazri also pointed out that the common usage of the term “parents” is “father, mother”, not “father or mother”.

       “Even in Bahasa Malaysia, we do not say it as ‘mother and father’, we say ‘mother father’ (ibubapa). This means unilateral conversion is not allowed,” he said.

       Nazri noted that in Islam, followers could not force anyone to convert to their religion.

       “To believe in Islam, there has to be free will. If there is no evidence of free will, then it shows that it is forced. Those conversions... we cannot accept them,” he said.

       He also pointed out that the issue of those aged under 18 not having a religion does not arise as the young ones grow up with the common religion of their parents.

       He cited incidences of his younger days when he was encouraged to fast at the age of five or six, taught to pray five times a day and had also gone to the mosque.

       “This means that every human, including a child, already has a religion. What is the religion? It is the common religion of the parents when they got married,” he said.

       Nazri further said that Islam prioritises justice.

       He lamented the unilateral conversion of M. Indira Gandhi’s children. The case in Perak resulted in the 2018 landmark decision by the Federal Court which ruled that unilateral conversion of children was not allowed, and hence the conversion of Indira’s three children to Islam by their father was nullified.

       “As a Muslim, I am not proud of this. Don’t do to others what you don’t want others to do to you,” said Nazri.