Will authorities address high divorce rate among Muslims?

 

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed some serious flaws in our relationships.

On Oct 12, deputy law minister Mas Ermieyati Samsudin told Parliament that about 140 divorce applications had been filed a day from March 2020 to August this year. Of these, 121 cases a day were attributed to Muslim couples.

Did the high divorce rate of 66,440 cases filed by Muslim couples with the e-shariah system ring alarm bells among the Malay community? So, how will the government address this problem?

Registering 121 divorce cases a day, or five every hour, among Muslims is worrying. Was there a breakdown in the relationship? Was the couple saddled with financial trouble, especially as many people had lost their jobs during the pandemic? Was it being cooped up at home during lockdown that caused the union to fail? Did the husband want to divorce his wife to marry another woman?

Will the authorities find out the real reasons for these divorces?

According to Mas, the highest divorce rate among Muslims was recorded in Selangor (12,479). The rates for the other states are Johor (7,558), Kedah (5,985), Kelantan (5,982), Perak (5,921), Terengganu (5,098), Pahang (5,058), Sabah (4,010), the federal territories (3,854), Negeri Sembilan (3,473), Penang (2,978), Melaka (2,402), Perlis (1,081) and Sarawak (561).

In contrast, only 10,346 divorce applications were filed among non-Muslims from March 2020 to August 2021. This works out to 18 divorces a day. As with Muslim couples, Selangor recorded the highest application rate (3,160), followed by Kuala Lumpur (2,893), Perak (1,209), Johor (1,197), Negeri Sembilan (861), Melaka (449), Pahang (386), Kedah (76), Kelantan (45), Perlis (41) and Terengganu (29).

In 2016, it was reported that in the preceding six years, 274,000 couples were divorced. During the first eight months of 2015, statistics by the shariah judicial department showed that 38,035 couples were divorced, which equates to 156 couples per day going their separate ways. The high divorce rate was blamed on family interference, infidelity, monetary woes and irreconcilable differences.

In reality, nothing much has changed over the years. This suggests that the authorities are not addressing the seriousness of the problem of marital break-ups.

When couples divorce, many women suffer, as do their children. Women who sacrificed their careers to bring up their families have less money to provide for them. Those who married young may have left school early and have no educational qualifications. Moreover, they may not be equipped with suitable skills for the employment market. Children may lose a father figure and a male role model.

Federal Islamic family law requires a Muslim male to fulfil five conditions before taking a second wife. He must have adequate financial means to provide for his wives. He should guarantee equal treatment of the wives. He must ensure that no harm is caused to the existing wife or wives. The additional marriage must be deemed to be “just and necessary”. The proposed marriage should not lower the existing wives’ and dependents’ standard of living, either directly or indirectly.

Many men have found it easier to obtain permission for a polygamous marriage by exploiting legal loopholes without fear of legal or social rebuke.

When the male finds that he cannot fulfil any of the five conditions for a polygamous marriage, he knows that he can get married across the border in Thailand. The border may be closed, for now, but many men are safe in the knowledge that when they return to Malaysia, the marriage can be registered after a nominal fine of RM3,000 is paid. The fine is a rap on the knuckles and the small sum, which is not a deterrent, means that women remain unprotected.

The authorities should encourage couples to build happy, lasting and meaningful relationships, but women will always feel vulnerable because they have no faith in the law.

We live in a patriarchal society and it is widely accepted that Malaysian shariah laws favour men. It is also widely acknowledged that few women are aware of their rights, and standardising the different state shariah laws throughout the nation is long overdue. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.