KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 19): The Court of Appeal has set Jan 10 next year to hear single mother Loh Siew Hong's appeal to overturn a High Court decision regarding the legality of her three underage children's unilateral conversion.
Loh's counsel J Gunamalar confirmed the matter with The Edge when contacted following case management on Thursday.
The appeal was initially scheduled to be heard on Thursday. However, the parties were informed by the court earlier this week that the date had been vacated and a new one was to be set.
Loh is appealing the High Court's decision last May which dismissed her bid to challenge the unilateral conversion of her kids.
High Court judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh ruled that the three children had not stopped professing the religion of Islam even under Loh's care.
He also said that there was no evidence before him to indicate that the children have reverted to the Hindu religion.
Thus, for the welfare of the children, the High Court judge ruled that the status quo ought to be maintained.
Loh had filed for divorce from her ex-husband Muhammad Nagahswaran Muniandy in December 2019, which was finalised in September 2021. In March 2021, she secured a final court order, giving her full and sole custody of the three children — twin girls who will turn 15 this year and a boy who is now 12.
Despite this, she claimed that her children were kept from her, as they had been placed under the care of the Social Welfare Department. She was finally reunited with them when the High Court granted her habeas corpus application in February last year.
In a related matter, the High Court last week dismissed Perlis Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council’s (MAIPs) bid to vary the custody order given to Loh.
Judge Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz, in her decision last Wednesday said that there was no merit in the religious authority's application and is not in the best interest of Loh's three children.
She added that based on her interview with the children, she found that their lives had been plagued with quarrels and domestic violence for some time.
The judge also said that the children were away from their mother for three years and conveyed that they are now very happy. Hayatul added that the children had conveyed to her that they did not want to be Muslims.
MAIPs had filed the application, among others, seeking supervised access to give the children basic Islamic education and to provide monetary aid to the children in accordance with Islamic principles.