Dato Sebastian on the proposed Negeri Sembilan regulations

suppadmin | February 10, 2015

Sarawak United Peoples’ Party Secretary General, Dato’ Sebastian Ting said he support the proposed regulations suggested by the Menteri Besar of Negri Sembilan, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan which called for converts to divorce first in the civil court before converting.

Mohamad said recently the proposed regulations would not only strengthen the enactment, but would also avoid controversy and, most importantly, would ensure that Islam would not be ridiculed or insulted just because of a wrongdoing of a Muslim convert.

The new regulations was aimed at protecting the sanctity of Islam and prevented the religion from being insulted and ridiculed just because of a wrongdoing of an individual, he said.

Ting echoed the sensible proposal and said it will put end to a lot of misunderstandings and heartaches. There were many cases in Malaysia where a spouse converted without the knowledge of the wife. This, he said, become a sticky situation especially when there were children involved.

He said if a marriage is dissolve before converting, there will be time to sort out a lot of issues without religion being dragged in.

Sarawak, said Ting, where there are many races and religions, inter-marriage is common. With such a law enforced in the future, a lot of problems would be solved not only for matrimony but for those who convert without letting the family know causing a tussle over the remains.

Ting hoped that should a marriage dissolved and a spouse converts, for those with children, it is best to leave them to decide their own faith until they reach 18 years of age.