Selangor Mentri Besar Amirudin Shari attends an event in Shah Alam August 8, 2019. — Picture by Miera Zulyana

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 — Selangor Mentri Besar Amirudin Shari has been instructed to provide a full briefing on Selangor’s unilateral conversion enactment during the Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council meeting this week.

PKR’s political bureau said Amirudin had attended today’s meeting and gave a briefing on the proposed unilateral conversion Bill in the state which he had wanted to table during the previous state assembly meeting.

“The political bureau has instructed YAB Mentri Besar to give a full briefing including an in-depth discussion on the matter during the PH Presidential Council meeting this Friday,” the statement reads.

It is understood that Amirudin had planned to push through an amendment to a state enactment, which currently says that individuals below 18 must obtain the consent of both “mother and father” before converting to Islam.

The planned amendment will see a change of this wording to “mother or father”; meaning that one parent will get to decide the conversion of a minor.

Previously in the case of M. Indira Gandhi, the Federal Court ruled that both parents’ consent were needed to convert a minor as stated in the Federal Constitution.

The state DAP has said its lawmakers would not back such an amendment as it would contravene the positions of both the Federal Court and Federal Constitution.

Amirudin, who is also Sungai Tua assemblyman, has said the Bill allowing for the unilateral conversion of minors could still be tabled at the next state legislative assembly sitting, despite conflicting views on the issue.

Meanwhile, the statement also said Amirudin gave a briefing on the latest developments involving welfare programmes under Selangor’s Inisiatif Peduli Rakyat which included free water and the Senior Citizen Scheme.

“The political bureau takes a stance that these programmes must be continually improved by ensuring the Bottom 40 target group is always prioritised apart from being sustainable,” it said.

Amirudin was handpicked by Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, who was Selangor mentri besar from 2015 to 2018, to succeed him after PH took power following the 14th general election last May.