A permanent mechanism will have to be worked out and related laws amended to ensure the implementation of the government's decision that a child's religion must be in accordance with the common religion at the time of marriage between the parents, said Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam today.

The MIC secretary-general said this was to ensure a permanent solution to the issue so that similar cases would not recur in the future.

dr s subramaniam interview 210308 05 "I urge all parties to cooperate on this matter. We will do our best to ensure such problems do not recur. Rest assured that the government will do the necessary to avoid such incidents," he said in a statement.

He said he would follow up the matter with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz who announced the cabinet's decision yesterday.

"I will hold lengthy discussions with Nazri and put forward proposals," he said.

Nazri said that conversion must not be used as a ground to automatically dissolve a marriage or to get custody of children and any individual who wanted to convert to another religion must resolve all problems regarding his responsibilities before converting, to avoid innocent parties, especially the children, becoming victims.

"We (the MIC) are happy that a solution has been found to this long-standing issue," Subramaniam said, and thanked the government for handling the issue in a matured way.

Subramaniam said the government's decision would be able to resolve the problem faced by Indra Gandhi where her husband Mohd Ridzuan, 40, or Patmanathan Krishnan, 40, a Muslim convert who used to be a Hindu, was reported to have converted his children - Tevi Darsiny, 12, Karan Dinesh, 11, and Prasana Diksa, 1 - to Islam on April 12 and applied for custody at the Syariah Court although their mother (Indra) is still a Hindu.

Indra is seeking for her children to be reinstated as Hindus.

The minister also said any issues concerning marriage should only be resolved through the civil courts.

ASM shares: Indians lack financial capabilities

In an unrelated development, MIC president Samy Vellu expressed concern that many Indians may not have the financial capabilities to take up the 15 percent quota of Amanah Saham Malaysia shares allocated for the community.

He said according to Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), as of last Wednesday, Indians had only taken 10.71 percent or 53.5 million units of their quota of 499.5 million units offered compared to the Chinese who have taken up all the 999 million ASM units, or 30 percent quota, offered to the community.

samy vellu exclusive on tamil schools 080708 06 He proposed that the government assist the Indians by providing a partial grant or loan to buy the shares through any of its agencies or financial institutions.

"If there is no financial assistance provided for them, the 15 percent quota will not be met and such a scenario will disable our (Indians) target of achieving 1.5 percent equity participation as envisaged under the Ninth Malaysia Plan by next year," he said in a statement here.

He said MIC has set up a monitoring team headed by him and assisted by Subramaniam and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economic Planning Unit) SK Devamany to ensure that the target of 15 percent was met.

"The team will identify the problems faced by Indians to purchase the shares and submit a proposal to the government for further action," he said, adding that the party's Social Strategic Foundation would be roped in to carry out surveys.

Samy Vellu said many Indians were keen to buy the ASM shares but could not do so as they could not come up with the money.

He also called on Indians who have the purchasing power to buy more ASM shares so as to double or even triple the amount. "This is the best savings mechanism for our future," he said.

He also suggested that Indian-based cooperatives, associations and NGOs with sound financial standings to buy the ASM shares on behalf of their members.

Meanwhile, Subramaniam said he would discuss with Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak on a mechanism to ensure Indians could purchase the entire ASM shares allocated to them.

"I will also request the prime minister to reserve a specific percentage from the two billion Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 shares that will be on sale next week," he said.

The prime minister had announced last Tuesday that of the two billion ASW 2020 shares, 51 percent would be reserved for bumiputeras while the balance 49 percent were reserved for non-bumiputeras.