As each of the parties - PKR, DAP and PAS - hold a different and contradicting view on the matter, their leaders have agreed that priority should be given to resolving custody issues before taking up matters relating to religion.

PKR deputy president Syed Husin Ali said when contacted that issues linked to conversion need to be further studied.

Explaining that Pakatan does not necessarily have to adopt a common position on every matter, he said “we need only a minimum (stance) to hold us together”.

PAS is taking a stronger line on the issue claiming that fathers have the right over children. 

PAS Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar, said that the cabinet's recent directive stating that children should be raised in the religion at the time of marriage should one of the parents  convert to another religion,  smacks of appeasement to the non-Muslim population. He calls it an evil political agenda after BN's loss in the two recent by-elections, which they attributed to non-Malays abandoning the Barisan Nasional coalition.