Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Malaysia announced Thursday it will bar the religious conversion of children without both parents' consent in a major step to ease interfaith conflicts that have strained this Muslim-majority country.
The announcement by new Prime Minister Najib Razak's administration follows a string of high-profile legal spats in which people who embraced Islam also changed their young children's religion despite protests from their estranged non-Muslim spouses.
The disputes have sparked complaints of discrimination by non-Muslims because Islamic Shariah courts typically rule in favor of Muslims, while secular courts that preside over family matters for non-Muslims say they have no jurisdiction over such cases.
Law Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz said the Cabinet has decided that when couples separate, their children should be raised in their original religion. He said amendments are expected to be made to the law to prevent conflicts from surfacing if one spouse converts.
"The Cabinet feels there is an implied and constructive contract between husband and wife that their children should be brought up in accordance to the common religion at the time of marriage," Nazri told reporters.
The move comes on the heels of a case of a Hindu woman who is challenging her estranged husband's conversion of their three children to Islam in a Muslim Shariah court without her consent.
Malaysia has a two-tier court system for family matters - secular courts for non-Muslims and Shariah courts for Muslims. Minorities complain that in disputes involving Muslims, the Shariah courts get jurisdiction and often rule against them.
Ethnic Malay Muslims comprise nearly two-thirds of Malaysia's population and dominate the government.