KUALA LUMPUR: A father has no right to change the religion of his children without the consent of his wife, Padang Rengas MP Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said today when debating on the issue of unilateral conversion in Dewan Rakyat.
“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 argues that the term “parents” means “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 was quoted by the Star as saying, adding that in Islam, Muslims can 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.
Nazri also pointed out that Muslim majority in Malaysia have a responsibility to safeguard the rights of minorities.
He said, Muslims have the responsibility to ensure that the rights and interests of the minority are well taken care of.
Over 60% of the population in Malaysia are Muslims, under the Federal Constitution, and Islam is the federal religion of the country.
