Brave words from 11 year old Karan Dinesh, but I’m not sure if he understands what he means. For all intents and purposes, the workers in religious department have considered the kids as muslim due to the unilateral decision of the cowardly father (i really wonder how the people can even accept people like this into their religion, really downgrades the religion). So, would the boy take his on life to maintain his stand to die as hindu? even that is not possible now because the moment he dies, the jabatan agama fellows will be lining up to grab his body, armed with court order and police escort. As i mentioned earlier, the family better make plans to escape to other country. Get the political parties or Hindu Sangam to fund the cost. Or even start a “save Indira’s family” campaign to collect money and ship them off to overseas. Because, according to the committee set up to solve this problem, it will “take some time”. By then, the kids will be forced to study the religion and brainwashed.

The mother is living in fear because the kids may be snatched any time. The religious department delivered the notice to the school (is that legal?) hoping that the kids will be detained when they go to school. However, the mother had kept them away from school after this fiasco.

All she wants is for her children to be able to go to school and for the family to lead a normal life again. “My children can’t go to school now. I fear the school will turn them over to the Syariah Court so I am keeping them at home,” said M. Indira Ghandi, 35, today at a press conference.

… Muhammad Rizal since then has been trying to take custody of two of the children – Karan Dinish, 11 and Tevi Darsiny, 12 – from their mother.

He had already taken custody of the baby, Prasana Diksa through what Indira claimed the use of force.

She had lodged six police reports to date.

The government is attending to Indira’s situation and has formed a three-man committee comprising three Ministers to find an amicable solution.

The three are Ministers in the Prime Minister’s department Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon (Unity), Maj-Gen (R) Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom (Islamic Affairs) and Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S.Subramaniam.

The committee met Monday but offered little hope of an immediate relief to Indira.

Indira’s plea to the authorities was simple.

“I am worried for my children’s studies. My daughter is sitting for the UPSR exam. How is she to prepare for the exam. Their lives have been disrupted as a result of this. They can’t go anywhere as I fear they will be taken from me,” Indira said as her children sat beside her.

Indira said since the Syariah court failed to serve her with the notice to hand over the children to the father, it had served the notice to the school.

The school has been put in a spot and appeared inclined to hand over the children to the court and their father.

Indira said her marriage had run into problems earlier this year. They tried to reconcile but failed.

“Things came to a head on April 1 when he grabbed our infant child from our home. He took their birth certificates and some of my certificates as well.”

Indira said she learnt only of his conversion when she went to report the infant being forcibly taken away from her.

“At the police station, they informed us about the conversion,” she said.

Over the next 48 hours, Muhammad Rizal moved to convert the three children using their birth certificates and got the Syariah court to issue and order giving him custody of the children.

Indira said the infant is currently being cared for by her mother-in-law.

In an immediate comment, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said it it would be a while before the three-member committee find a solution to the problem.

“This is most unsatisfactory. The issue is clear for everyone to see. The children have been converted without their mother’s consent,” he said.

Lim felt Indira’s case should be a role model for the government’s “One Malaysia: People First, Peformance Now” slogan.

“Instead we are being given excuses. The government should put a stop to this type of cases by simply making the law clear,” he said.

DAP obviously see this as an opportunity to get some brownie points championing the rights of the people, but can’t blame them for the weakness/foolishness of the ruling coalition. Wonder what PAS says on this. Or UMNO, for the matter.

How about MIC? One representative is in the committee, so we hope to hear some positive words. MIC have chance to redeem itself a little bit, so it must make use of it.

Note that the boy got Malay and Islam mixed up. One wonders how that mistake happened. Bad coaching or his own understanding is like that?

Who to blame? I blame it squarely on the leaders (since the independence) of the country. Its their collective failure that lead to this kind of crime happening. They don’t have the guts to fix the loopholes in the law. All the members of parliament (living or dead) especially those who formed the two thirds majority are answerable for the crime committed by the father. The people in the attorney general’s office are also equally guilty of abetting this crime. Its time for Mahathir, Abdullah Badawi, Ling Liong Sik, Ong Ka Ting, Anwar Ibrahim, Samy Vellu, Subra, and whole lot of others to be rebuked and punished for failing the people of the country. Remember that being in the government means collective responsibility – you cannot plead ignorance or just make noise once you’re not in the cabinet/govt/party. I can’t remember anyone resigning over their stand on unethical conversion. So, the whole lot is guilty.

Of course the father is also guilty, but he merely acted cunningly by making use of the loopholes in the law. He just follow precedent set by others before him.

We still remember the ruling for Subashini’s case – the child can stay with the mother, but they are to remain as Muslim. Isn’t that cruel? Where’s the compassion in justice? Are we robots? Is their religion that rigid and cruel? Would the children grow up appreciating our country’s diversity or end up cursing it? Would they be true Muslims or “atas nama” only? Makes us think if the decision makers have thinking capacity or not.

The solution is simple – we Malaysians must ignore the conversion which makes a mockery of us. Label it null and void. initiate criminal proceeding against the husband for wife abuse. change the law within a month – make it a fast track case. in the meantime, suspend all conversion application so that more criminals do not pass through the loopholes. But I fear it will end up like Subashini’s case. The religious department and AG office will make use of the grossly unfair decision made by the court and deny justice to Indira and her kids. So, no justice, no fairness, no rights.

Koh Tsu Koon meanwhile faces the first crisis in his role Minister in PM Department in charge of Unity. He starts off with a meeting on Monday to find a fast solution. He admits that it would involve court proceedings.

A meeting was held on Monday to discuss the matter and those who attended the meeting had a better understanding on the issue, he added.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom were among those present at the meeting.

Also present were Malaysian Hindu Sangam president Datuk A. Vaithilingam and its Perak leader J. Vijayalingam.

Few months down the lane, another case will appear and we will start the whole process again.