KUALA LUMPUR: Tears flowed like rivers down her cheeks when, within minutes, single mother Loh Siew Hong received immediate custody of her three children from Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah at the High Court. For the first time in years, Siew Hong, 35, rushed to her children – 14-year-old twin girls and 10-year-old son – and freely embraced them with all the legal rights of a mother.
“I am extremely happy to have my children back with me. It is all new to me as I just got them back.
“I am still thinking about their future and what is best for them,” she said after having lunch with her children at a hotel in Petaling Jaya yesterday right after the hearing.
Siew Hong, a chef, said she would be taking her children with her to wherever she planned to work.
She said that she wanted her children to get familiar with their current home first before they made any future plans.Minutes after the court was called to order, Justice Sequerah held that everything was in order and ruled for the immediate release of the children to Siew Hong from the care of the Welfare Department, granting her sole custody, care and control of the children.
The judge noted that there was an existing High Court order, dated March 31 last year, that granted Siew Hong sole custody, care and control of her three children.
Meanwhile in George Town, a shelter for women that once took Siew Hong under its wing has lauded the High Court’s decision to uphold her rights as a mother with custody of her children.
“It is unfortunate that Siew Hong had to go through so much delay and hassle to obtain what is rightfully hers, given that she had already been legally awarded full custody of her children,” said Women’s Centre for Change executive director Loh Cheng Kooi.
On the status of the children’s conversion to Islam while they stayed in Perlis, Cheng Kooi stressed that the Federal Court decision in the Indira Gandhi case made it clear that unilateral conversions of children were not allowed, and “we hope that all government and other agencies will uphold and respect this decision”.
In the 2018 landmark decision by the apex court, the unilateral conversion of Indira’s three children to Islam by their father was nullified, and the Federal Court held the decisions of both parents were necessary.
The panel of sitting judges unanimously ruled that the singular word “parent” in Article 12(4) of Federal Constitution (The religion of a person under the age of 18 years shall be decided by his or her parent or guardian) could not be taken literally.
“The word ‘parent’ is a case of being lost in translation. Both parents have equal rights,” the judges held in their 99-page judgment.
Perlis mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin said yesterday he would explore legal measures to safeguard the children’s faith in Islam if they wished it.