Malaysia tackles child conversion

[Coventina]

Source: BBC

Malaysia has banned the religious conversion of children without both parents' consent, local media reports.

The announcement by new Prime Minister Najib Razak is being seen as a major step in easing ethnic tensions in the predominately Muslim country.

It follows a string of legal rows in which converts to Islam changed their children's religion despite protests by their estranged non-Muslim spouses.

Malaysia has a two-tier secular and Sharia court system for family matters.

Non-Muslims - who make up about 40% of Malaysia's population - have complained of discrimination, saying the Islamic Sharia courts tend to assert their greater power over minorities when disputes arise.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8014025.stm