source<\/a><\/p>\nNON-MUSLIMS who convert to Islam to marry should be allowed to renounce the religion after the marriage has ended<\/span><\/strong>, said Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting (BN-Kulai).
\nIn a hard-hitting speech, the MCA president made his party’s position on the touchy issue of religious conversions clear.<\/p>\nHe said MCA did not want non-Muslims to be subjected to any form of Syariah law<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\nIn his 11-page motion of thanks on the royal address, Ong said if a child was unilaterally converted to Islam by one parent, the child should be allowed to maintain his or her original religion until he or she attains a majority age<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\nBintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing seconded Ong’s motion.
\nOng was given a hard time when he started his speech, but after he declared that he would not be giving way for clarification from members, his fellow MPs kept quiet<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\nOng said in the last three years, the country had witnessed an “unprecedented” number of religious matters involving constitutional rights of non-Muslims.<\/p>\n
“Non-Muslims are not to be subjected to any form of Syariah law. For disputes or overlapping areas involving the jurisdiction of civil and Syariah courts, civil laws must prevail<\/strong><\/span>.”<\/p>\nLikewise, in cases involving inheritance, if a mualaf (convert) dies, the estate of the deceased prior to conversion should be subjected to the civil laws on inheritance and succession<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\nOng’s two-hour speech also touched on the judiciary, corruption, education, economy, crime and security.<\/p>\n
On crime and security, Ong went against the government’s position<\/span><\/strong> on the formation of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).<\/p>\nLast year, the government had tabled a bill for a Special Complaints Commission (SCC), which was to provide recourse to anyone who had been wronged by an enforcement agency and not just the police. He was a cabinet member when the SCC was tabled last year.<\/p>\n
He urged the government to reconsider its position on the IPCMC.<\/p>\n
On the judiciary, Ong called on the soon-to-be set up judicial commission to devise a stringent vetting process of candidates to avert any accusations that only those who were connected were being considered to be as judges.<\/p>\n
He also suggested that the commission be allowed to recommend candidates as magistrates and Session Court judges.<\/p>\n
Currently, magistrates and Session Court judges are appointed by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission.<\/p>\n
“We cannot help, but notice that the composition of our judiciary does not reflect the multi-racial aspect of our society.<\/p>\n
“I am not suggesting that a racial quota be applied to judicial appointments as it must be based on merit, capability, intelligence, independence and integrity.<\/p>\n
“But, at the same time, we must correct any perception that our judges will not be able to adjudicate fairly and impartially on sensitive issues, particularly relating to religion if a person’s faith becomes an issue before a panel of judges whose religious faith and belief may differ from his or her’s.”<\/p>\n
He also proposed that for serious criminal cases, the trial by jury system be brought back.<\/p>\n
Ong said the fight against corruption must be the government’s main priority now.<\/p>\n
He suggested that a time frame be set for all government departments and agencies to process approvals.<\/p>\n
Explanations must be given if the departments and agencies failed to meet the deadline.<\/p>\n
He also proposed that a whistle blower mechanism be incorporated to protect those who decide to blow the whistle on corrupt officers.<\/p>\n
“The lower income group needs lots of attention and encouragement from the government to overcome the challenges in their lives.<\/p>\n
“They cannot stand hearing or being told that money was allegedly being misused.”<\/p>\n
Ka Ting: Allow converts to renounce Islam<\/strong>
\nFauwaz Abdul Aziz | Apr 30, 08 8:21pm<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/malaysiakini.com\/news\/82201<\/p>\n
Those who convert to Islam (muallaf) for marriage purposes should be allowed to revert out of the religion in the event their marriage ends<\/span><\/strong>, said MCA president Ong Ka Ting today.<\/p>\nIn his motion of thanks for the royal address by Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, Ong also said children “unilaterally converted to Islam by one parent without the consent of the other parent should be allowed to go back to their original religion until they reach the age of maturity.<\/span><\/strong>”<\/p>\n“In the case where one parent embraces Islam, the religion of the minor must be decided by both parents. Should a dispute on the child’s faith arise, the religion must remain as status quo until the child reaches the age of maturity, that is, 18 years, upon which the child decides<\/span><\/strong>,” he said.<\/p>\nOng also said in the event of a death of a muallaf, his or her property “comprised in the estate of the deceased prior to the date of conversion should be subject to civil laws of inheritance and succession<\/strong><\/span>.”<\/p>\nThe issue of conversion had rocked communal relations in the country over the past few years. While some pertain to demands that Muslims be allowed to leave Islam, others relate to the status of children of Muslim and non-Muslim parents.<\/p>\n
In all, however, the determinative role and powers of the religious authorities have been brought to question, including in such cases as the late M Moorthy, Lina Joy, the detention of M Revathi, and the child custody battle of S Shamala and R Subashini.<\/p>\n
“Non-Muslims are not to be subject to any form of Syariah laws, and for any disputes or overlapping areas between the jurisdiction of the civil and Syariah courts, civil laws must prevail<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n“We urge the government to be transparent in this process to avoid a repeat of the cases mentioned above,” said Ong.<\/p>\n
Racial composition of the judiciary<\/strong><\/p>\nOn a related issue, the MCA president said the government cannot ignore the perception that the judiciary does not reflect the multiracial composition of the country.<\/p>\n
To redress this a composition of judges that is more reflective of that multiracialism should be brought about, he said.<\/p>\n
“We cannot deny the fact that judges are also humans too, and as much as they want to be perceived to be independent and transparent, factors such as religion, racial and their cultural backgrounds can influence their thinking,” he added.<\/p>\n
“I am not suggesting a racial quota be applied to judicial appointments. Of course, a judge’s appointment must be based on merit, capability, intelligence, independence and integrity, and it should not be seen as having any connection with background, descent and gender.<\/p>\n
“But at the same time, we must correct any perception that our judges will not be able to adjudicate fairly and impartially on sensitive issues, particularly relating to religion if a persons’s faith becomes an issue before a panel of judges whose religions faith and beliefs differ from her or her.”<\/p>\n
On the Judicial Commission for the appointment and promotion of judges, Ong called for a strict vetting process of candidates “to avert any accusation that only the connected are being considered for judgeship.”<\/p>\n
He also said that judicial commissioners should be selected from among candidates proposed by the Judicial Commission.<\/p>\n
Calls for heavier penalties<\/strong><\/p>\nOn the issue of corruption, Ong welcomed the announcement of the restructuring of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), the establishment of the Malaysian Commission on Anti-Corruption (MCAC), the Parliamentary Committee on the Prevention of Corruption, and the Anti-Corruption Board.<\/p>\n
In addition, he called for a time-frame for all government bodies to process all types of applications and announce these to the public.<\/p>\n
Ong also said there should be one “clear, simple and transparent procedure” to process the applications.<\/p>\n
“If the processing time-frame is not complied with, they (the government agencies) must give a reasonable explanation for the delay.<\/p>\n
“This step is necessary to avoid situations where any officer deliberately slows down the duration to process the application with the hope to receive bribes, or give opportunity for people to take advantage of others.”<\/p>\n
Ong also called for heavier penalties against corrupt civil servants or those in the private sector, including withdrawing pension benefits from the latter.<\/p>\n
On the issue of education, Ong said the time had come for the government to “think out of the box” by doing away with the policy of according different treatment between partially-aided and fully-aided schools<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n“The mind-set that the government cannot help partially-aided schools is completely rejected by the rakyat<\/strong><\/span>, especially in this era when our nation’s core leaders emphasise developing human capital.<\/p>\n“Nobody loses out if the Ministry of Education treats <\/span>all schools as government schools<\/span><\/strong>,” he said.<\/p>\nOng also called for open tenders in government procurement, as this will foster more competition and help reduce operational costs.<\/p>\n
The government must help the poor and disadvantaged regardless of race and ethnicity, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My..my..my, when MCA talked about being vocal for the benefit of all Malaysians, no one would have expected them to use the the platform offered by PM – motion of thanks to the King for his royal address to drive in their point. First time in history, MCA were given the honor to thank the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[92,112,19,84,113,114,302],"class_list":["post-1860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-borninmalaysia","tag-conversion","tag-discrimination","tag-education","tag-funds","tag-intolerance","tag-mca","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}