Will all the laws help ?
Should we do more prevention measures like teenagers talk of the responsiblities of marriage rather than the two weeks course. When the lovers are heels over heads, they cannot listen to the burden a family man or woman will face.
Prevention is better than cure. Old saying but never implement in life.
The Star Online > Nation
Saturday August 12, 2006
Justice in sight for divorcees
Comment by SUHAINI AZNAM
THE move to force Muslim men to settle their properties with their first wife before taking on another is laudable – and perhaps overdue.
It means that the legalities of property division are tidied up before the husband can start a new home.
In making the proposal, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil herself has said that “the state cannot be at everyone’s home or marital bed.”
A court ruling to smoothen the way for the first wife to get her share of harta sepencarian (marital assets) would help lay the ground rules, and would ensure “justice for all”, she said.
Historically, divorced Muslim men have been able to escape their family responsibilities by “disappearing”, or simply by not handing over the necessary ringgit.
Innumerable single mothers have to leave their children in the care of relatives, or for those who can afford it, day care. Without help, they barely make ends meet.
Given the rising rate of divorce among Muslim couples, such legal safeguards are not to be sneezed at.
In 2004, a total of 16,509 Muslim couples were divorced nationwide, a jump of 3,000 from the 13,536 divorces in 2000.
While divorce is allowed in Islam, according to Islamic scholars it is “the act most frowned upon” in the eyes of God.
But it happens in the best of families.
If the proposal is adopted, the courts will order an automatic division of property and determine the quantum a first wife (or previous wives) would get in a divorce settlement.
It would at least provide for the children, even though a Muslim wife is only entitled to three months’ equivalent of alimony in the period called edah.
Enforcement will no longer be ad hoc or haphazard.
In case the husband still fails to pay up, the Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) could be called upon to add its muscle, said Shahrizat optimistically.
The present Islamic Family Law 1984 provides that a husband may be jailed for failure to pay maintenance.
According to Syariah divorce lawyers, that threat of imprisonment is often sufficient to make an errant husband pay up.
But punitive measures may be self-defeating.
If a man is in jail, he obviously cannot pay.
Alternative solutions such as interim orders, attachment of properties for the self-employed and salary deductions for paid workers would be more effective in ensuring the children do not suffer a drop in their standard of living.
Women’s advocacy groups laud the proposal, having pushed to have it incorporated into the amended Islamic Family Law scheduled for tabling at Parliament’s next session.
The proposal will not resolve all the hurt, betrayal and guilt surrounding divorce.
But it is a significant step forward for Muslim women in Malaysia.
© 1995-2005 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)
Comments