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Key Highlights
Women and landmark rulings
Mother gets her children back
Muda vs PKR clash?
Women and landmark rulings
Women and women’s groups scored several legal victories yesterday, ranging from issues of the Constitution, citizenship and child custody.
A landmark ruling yesterday involved Sisters in Islam (SIS), which had embarked on an almost decade-long legal battle after the Selangor Islamic Council in 2014 issued a fatwa declaring their organisation as "liberal deviants".
Over the years, the legal battle morphed into something bigger which extended into issues of constitutionality.
This was after the High Court in Kuala Lumpur in 2019 dismissed SIS' judicial review of the fatwa, telling them instead to seek a judicial review in the Syariah court under Section 66A of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (State of Selangor) Enactment 2003.
SIS then challenged the validity of Section 66A and the Federal Court yesterday decided in their favour.
The nine-member apex court panel, led by Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat who is the country's first woman Chief Justice, unanimously decided that Section 66A, which grants judicial powers to the Syariah courts, is unconstitutional as such powers lie with the civil courts.
SIS said it still faces a long journey to uphold the rights of Muslim women.
Meanwhile, a group of Malaysian mothers with foreign spouses, who had similarly engaged in an almost decade long tussle with the Home Ministry that had refused to grant citizenship to their overseas-born children, also saw a resolution to their plight.
The Home Ministry finally presented them with the certificate of citizenship but only after making them wait for hours due to “printer settings issues”.
This was a follow up to a decision of the High Court in Kuala Lumpur delivered in September last year, which ruled that the citizenship right granted to foreign-born children of Malaysian fathers with foreign spouses must also be extended to those of Malaysian mothers as the Constitution prohibits gender discrimination.
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Mother gets her children back
Single mother Loh Siew Hong succeeded in her legal challenge to quash the "illegal detention" of her children after they were unilaterally converted to Islam by her former husband, who is now in jail for a drug offence.
The Social Welfare Department and a religious preacher had refused to return her children even though she had obtained legal custody of her children in 2021.
Loh was immediately reunited with her children who were in the witness room after the decision. The High Court in Kuala Lumpur had warned that a failure to do so would be in contempt of court.
A video of Loh's children expressing a desire to be reunited with their mother was also circulated, contradicting Perlis Mufti Asri Zainul Abidin's claim that they don't want their mother.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Ahmad Marzuk Shaary weighed into the issue, stating that people should respect the differing state laws where some allow religious conversion with the consent of one parent while others require both.
While religious affairs come under state jurisdiction, Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution explicitly states that the religion of any person aged under 18 is determined by the parent, which a 2018 landmark court ruling had decided must mean both parents.
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Muda vs PKR clash?
Muda continued to keep the cards close to its chest with its president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman remaining coy when asked whether the youth-led party would contest against PKR in the Johor polls.
To date, Muda has announced candidates for four out of the six seats Amanah and DAP surrendered to them.
The latest three are human rights lawyer Lim Wei Jiet for Tenang, as well as activists Afiqah Zulkifli and Azrul Rahani in Bukit Kepong and Bukit Permai respectively. It previously also announced Amira Aisya Abdul Aziz for the Puteri Wangsa seat.
The choice of Lim challenges convention as no political party, be it in the government or opposition, has as ever fielded a non-Malay in Tenang, which has substantial Felda and estate voters.
PKR president Anwar Ibrahim indicated his party was willing to cooperate with Muda if they share a similar manifesto but no one wants to address the elephant in the room of a possible clash.
Meanwhile, PSM also announced it will join the Johor polls with its sole candidate - film director R Arangkannal in Kota Iskandar.
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A daily glance at Covid-19
25,099 new cases yesterday (Feb 21).
43 new fatalities put the death toll at 32,390.
New cases by states
Selangor (5,535)
Sabah (4,770)
Johor (2,697)
Kedah (2,486)
Kelantan (1,900)
Penang (1,752)
Pahang (1,365)
Negeri Sembilan (1,325)
Kuala Lumpur (866)
Terengganu (607)
Perak (465)
Malacca (403)
Sarawak (294)
Labuan (260)
Perlis (219)
Putrajaya (155)
What else is happening?
Malaysiakini, in a special report, analysed the significance of young voters and their voting preferences based on past voting trends. We ran a simulation of what would happen if only young people voted.
Interestingly, PAS would gain greater dominance in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia while Pakatan Harapan will sweep most of the west coast. BN will be reduced to small pockets of areas.
This is significant as a new reservoir of young voters is now part of the electoral roll following the implementation of automatic voter registration and a lower voting age of 18. Learn about the project here.
Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah maintained that the government won't discuss ambassador candidates publicly amid speculations that Umno's Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman and Padang Rengas MP Nazri Abdul Aziz may be appointed as diplomats.
Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching expressed concern at the imposition of police permits to hold ceramah sessions for the Johor polls, stating that it could lead to bias.
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