Letters - Justice upheld

I AM overjoyed by the unanimous decision of the Federal Court upholding the decision of the Ipoh High Court and the subsequent minority decision of the Court of Appeal, requiring Indira Gandhi to be reunited with her daughter, and compelling the police to enforce this judgment.
This is a decision which upholds the Federal Constitution, and will provide a huge relief to all Malaysians regardless of faith.
This decision must also provide welcome relief to the distraught mother.
I remember well the nightmare faced by Indira and her family when she first came to know of the actions of her then husband. Especially the abduction of her daughter, then still an infant. We, from the Malaysia Hindu Sangam and the Malaysian Consultative Council for Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism & Taoism did our best to support her in her attempts to retrieve her daughter.
I was then leading both, the Sangam and council, and during the same week, I was invited to attend a meeting with five federal ministers. All expressed shock and sympathy for the mother. At the end of this two-hour discussion, they unanimously agreed that the government will propose a new law to stop conversion of minors. The following week after this meeting, the Cabinet announced that it had approved this new law. Unfortunately, the tabling of this law was delayed, and eventually shelved after protests from certain religious leaders. It remains a great disservice to all Malaysians that this new law to protect the integrity of all families is still delayed.
Since then, many Cabinet ministers have expressed their sympathies and support for Indira. Many leaders from the Opposition have also expressed their dismay about the travails of Indira. Even some PAS MPs have recorded their sympathy to the injustice suffered by the mother.
I am at last relieved that this matter has been resolved. However, there is this issue of unlawful child conversion which is still pending.
I appeal for the prime minister to resolve this matter as soon as possible by normalising the laws so that it does not cause further distress to families – especially the children.
Abducting an 11-month-old infant from its mother and keeping the child away for years, is not only cruel, but now clearly established by the highest court of Malaysia, to be a criminal act!
A. Vaithilingam
Petaling Jaya