Lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla submitted that under Section 1(3)(b) Guardianship Infants Act, the civil court had no jurisdiction over the two children of Lee Chang Yong and Teng Wai Yee.
“We raised a preliminary issue before the court today, on whether the court (civil) has power to hear the custody of Muslim convert children,” he said outside the court, referring to the Lee siblings.
He was representing Teng, also known as Aleena Abdullah, in her divorce proceedings against Lee.
The lawyer pointed out that in similar interfaith custody matters, such as the cases of R Subashini and S Deepa, the Federal Court did not address the question of whether Muslim convert children were bound by the jurisdiction of the civil court.
Lawyer Honey Tan, acting for Lee, contended that the civil court had the power to hear the custody matter, as the divorce petition had been filed before it.
Judicial Commissioner Zakiah Kassim fixed October 11 to decide whether the civil court could hear the custody matter.
FMT previously reported that Lee discovered his children had been converted by his wife while the couple were in the midst of divorce proceedings.
She converted to Islam on Dec 29, last year.
On June 14, Lee filed a judicial review to challenge his children’s unilateral conversion by Teng.
In his affidavit, he claimed she had converted the siblings to Islam because she wanted custody.
His bid to obtain leave from the High Court was put on hold pending another conversion challenge by kindergarten teacher M Indira Gandhi.
In Indira’s case, her three children had been converted unilaterally by her ex-husband who had converted to Islam.