KUALA LUMPUR: Marriages registered overseas between Malaysian Muslims and non-Muslim foreigners are neither allowed nor recognised under Malaysian law, should the couple choose to later reside in Malaysia, religious affairs minister Na’im Mokhtar said in the Dewan Rakyat.
The minister said the civil law on marriages – the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 – does not apply to a Muslim or to anyone who gets married under Islamic laws if their partner is a non-Muslim. Such marriages cannot be registered under the civil law, he added.
For the Muslims, the Islamic Family Law (Federal Territory) Act 1984 states that no man can marry a non-Muslim woman and vice versa.
“If a Muslim was to marry someone of a different faith, their partner has to convert to Islam,” Na’im said in a written reply to Ngeh Khoo Ham (PH-Beruas).
Ngeh had asked whether interfaith marriages registered overseas between Malaysian Muslims and non-Muslim foreigners would be recognised once the couple return to Malaysia.