YOURSAY | Wrong to ‘manipulate’ children in conversion row

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Unilateral conversions wrong by any moral standard, says don

PETALING JAYA: The unilateral conversion of children is not just unconstitutional but also unethical, says a sociology professor following the recent case involving single mother Loh Siew Hong and her three children.

Islamic intellectual Syed Farid Alatas, a sociology professor at the National University of Singapore, said he believed many Malaysians were tired of recurring reports of unilateral conversions.

Unilateral conversion is wrong by any standard, he said, and particularly erroneous in a multiracial and multireligious Malaysia, where there was a need to maintain cordial relations and mutual understanding among different religious communities.

“Unilateral conversion is not just wrong because it goes against the Federal Constitution, but it’s wrong by any universal standard of morality. It’s unethical because children are not in a position where they can make such decisions.

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