S Thayaparan
Published: Dec 1, 2025 7:00 AM
Updated: 1:41 PM
“They are not seen as a custom issue; they are seen as a religious issue. Indira’s case is not going to be the last. There are going to be more.”
COMMENT | Let me be very clear. M Indira Gandhi’s case, like many others, is a form of religious kidnapping.
In 2014, when the case of S Deepa first saw light, former law minister and US ambassador Nazri Aziz said this of the police’s ”mistaken assumption” for not retrieving the kidnapped child:
“It is a civil law marriage; it is the civil court, (and) we must respect the civil court’s ruling. They have the jurisdiction. The High Court judge’s ruling was correct. The police shouldn’t allow him to get away with kidnapping the child.”
Proponents of unilateral conversion have relied on the theme of religious and racial supremacy in support of this agenda and have twisted the Constitution of this country and played up racial and religious sentiments to bolster their arguments.
Published: Dec 1, 2025 7:00 AM
Updated: 1:41 PM
“They are not seen as a custom issue; they are seen as a religious issue. Indira’s case is not going to be the last. There are going to be more.”
- Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim
COMMENT | Let me be very clear. M Indira Gandhi’s case, like many others, is a form of religious kidnapping.
In 2014, when the case of S Deepa first saw light, former law minister and US ambassador Nazri Aziz said this of the police’s ”mistaken assumption” for not retrieving the kidnapped child:
“It is a civil law marriage; it is the civil court, (and) we must respect the civil court’s ruling. They have the jurisdiction. The High Court judge’s ruling was correct. The police shouldn’t allow him to get away with kidnapping the child.”
Proponents of unilateral conversion have relied on the theme of religious and racial supremacy in support of this agenda and have twisted the Constitution of this country and played up racial and religious sentiments to bolster their arguments.
Nazri Aziz
They have relied on the state security apparatus (which is supposed to be secular) to enforce their will, contrary to the rulings of civil courts, and have had the overt approval of the “social contract” ruling class to carry out this agenda, all while promoting the idea of a “moderate” Islam.
When you convert a child unilaterally to Islam, you are denying that child the right to choose his or her religion. Faith by fiat is what I call it, with the onerous obligation that comes with a state-sanctioned religion.
Nazri, one of the few ministers who attempted to reform this aspect of the law, said this in 2022: “As a Muslim, I am not proud of this. For me, Islam is about being fair. And it’s not fair if one of the parents changes the religion of their child without the other parent’s permission. Don’t do to others what you don’t want others to do to you.”
Madani, of course, is the worst of all the administrations that have passed the buck on this case for the simple reason that this is a government, albeit a unity government, made up of political operatives who have used this mother when it suited their purposes and abandoned her once in power.
Double standards from the highest office
This is a government where the prime minister oversees the conversion of a Hindu youth but cannot instruct the state security apparatus to return a child to her Hindu mother.
They have relied on the state security apparatus (which is supposed to be secular) to enforce their will, contrary to the rulings of civil courts, and have had the overt approval of the “social contract” ruling class to carry out this agenda, all while promoting the idea of a “moderate” Islam.
When you convert a child unilaterally to Islam, you are denying that child the right to choose his or her religion. Faith by fiat is what I call it, with the onerous obligation that comes with a state-sanctioned religion.
Nazri, one of the few ministers who attempted to reform this aspect of the law, said this in 2022: “As a Muslim, I am not proud of this. For me, Islam is about being fair. And it’s not fair if one of the parents changes the religion of their child without the other parent’s permission. Don’t do to others what you don’t want others to do to you.”
Madani, of course, is the worst of all the administrations that have passed the buck on this case for the simple reason that this is a government, albeit a unity government, made up of political operatives who have used this mother when it suited their purposes and abandoned her once in power.
Double standards from the highest office
This is a government where the prime minister oversees the conversion of a Hindu youth but cannot instruct the state security apparatus to return a child to her Hindu mother.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim witnessing the conversion of a youth in Klang, Selangor, August 2023
And remember, this is the prime minister who, when he was the leader of the opposition in 2013, said that the position in Islam was that conversion could only occur with the consent of the mother.
As reported in the press, “There’s a specific case where the Prophet Muhammad sent a child back to the mother because the mother did not convert to Islam and only the father did so.”
When former law minister Zaid Ibrahim warns non-Muslims, “there are going to be more”, this is exactly the agenda of the deep Islamic state.
As reported in the press, “There’s a specific case where the Prophet Muhammad sent a child back to the mother because the mother did not convert to Islam and only the father did so.”
When former law minister Zaid Ibrahim warns non-Muslims, “there are going to be more”, this is exactly the agenda of the deep Islamic state.
Make no mistake, if Madani or any other government wanted to correct this cruelty in the legal system, they could. However, cruelty is the point of supremacy. What is the use of supremacy if you cannot demonstrate its power?
And what is the state doing but demonstrating its power over Indira and those who support her? What is it doing by keeping a mother from her child? What is it doing by brazenly ignoring the order of the civil courts?
What is it doing by putting forward narratives that muddy the waters and stir racial and religious sentiment? What is it doing by galvanising religious sentiment online against this Hindu mother by refusing to perform its legal obligations?
The state security apparatus has ignored judgments from the judicial branch and has let a child kidnapper escape the course of justice. And why do you think this is? Well, because they understand that the only people who could sanction such behaviour are the political class.
In other words, they understand that they are free from the repercussions that the ordinary rakyat are subject to if they break the law. It is as simple as that.
Collapse of police credibility
Can anyone trust anything the inspector-general of police (IGP) says now? When conniving political operatives (BN, then Pakatan Harapan) tell us to trust the investigation, can anyone take them seriously? You do understand what this means, right?
Now, when a Muslim convert or a Muslim kidnapper kidnaps his or her child, what he or she has is precedent that the state security apparatus will do everything in their power to see to it that the crime results in a “happy ending” or where the child is never rescued.
Indira’s ex-husband, Riduan Abdullah, has successfully, with the aid of fellow travellers in the deep Islamic state, evaded the Royal Malaysia Police for years, outfoxed god knows how many IGPs, made the state security apparatus look like bungling, insipid keystone cops, and of course, now he has to deal with an IGP who behaves as if this is a new case.
Riduan Abdullah
Riduan even outlasted various changes in government, which no doubt shows him that he is beyond the reach of any form of government. It would not surprise me if there are average citizens conspiring to keep this child within Islam.
I do not think these people consider Riduan as some sort of religious martyr, but rather, they believe that Indira’s daughter belongs to them and their faith.
Rational Malaysians, whatever their religious beliefs, have to ask, why are fellow travellers of the deep Islamic state so invested in seeing that Indira is not reunited with Prasana?
What these theocrats-in-waiting and their factotums want to demonstrate is that religious supremacy trumps everything. Civil laws, the political class, the state security apparatus, and various pressure groups.
But most importantly, and this is the critical part, the love of a mother for her child.
I do not think these people consider Riduan as some sort of religious martyr, but rather, they believe that Indira’s daughter belongs to them and their faith.
Rational Malaysians, whatever their religious beliefs, have to ask, why are fellow travellers of the deep Islamic state so invested in seeing that Indira is not reunited with Prasana?
What these theocrats-in-waiting and their factotums want to demonstrate is that religious supremacy trumps everything. Civil laws, the political class, the state security apparatus, and various pressure groups.
But most importantly, and this is the critical part, the love of a mother for her child.
S THAYAPARAN is commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
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And is the convertee Riduan really a Muslim in his religious belief? Or did he embrace Islam just for the opportunity of seizing the daughter from a Hindu mother?
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