Snoring, night laundry reasons for divorce, says Malaysia minister

Loud snoring spouses, wives who go on trips with friends often or women who do their laundry at night - these were among the frivolous reasons cited as reasons for divorce among newly weds, says Hannah Yeoh, the deputy women, family and community development minister of Malaysia.

Yeoh said those were among the reasons for divorce among couples who have been married for less than five years, referring to a news report which had quoted the Selangor Syariah Judiciary Department of the country.

"Even I wash my clothes at night, but this is (apparently) among the reasons why divorces are filed," said Yeoh in Parliament, drawing laughter from MPs.

Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Nga Kor Ming then quipped that perhaps Yeoh should not wash clothes at night but instead send them to the laundry.

Yeoh also said some husbands dislike their wives eating in the car, which is also a reason for divorce.

The report, published in 2016, stated about 23 frivolous reasons why divorces happen in Selangor.

Other reasons include differences in political opinion, husbands having lower salaries than their wives, or spouses who enjoy shopping often.

"I read these reasons to show that these are among the trivial (remeh temeh) reasons used to file for divorces and this is very serious.

"Therefore, among the steps taken by the government to strengthen the institution of marriage and family through the National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN) is to provide pre- and post-marriage courses to prepare couples to build a strong and happy family, especially for young couples," she said.

Yeoh was replying to Noor Amin Ahmad (PH-Kangar) who asked the ministry to reveal the number of and main reasons for divorces among those married less than five years.

Yeoh said among the pre-marriage courses conducted by LPPKN include the SmartStart programme for couples who want to get married or for those who have been married for less than five years.

Another course is called SmartBelanja (Smart Spending) to help couples increase their knowledge in managing household finances.

Other courses provided are counselling services such as SmartStart 2nd Honeymoon (For couples who have been married for more than five years), as well as Parenting@Work for parents.

Yeoh said based on the statistics from the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Department (Jawi), there were 2,932 divorces for marriages under five years from 2013 to 2017.

"For non-Muslims, the (country wide) statistics from the National Registration Department (NRD) showed there have been 14,440 divorce cases for marriages under five years for the same period.

"From that period, Johor recorded the highest number with 2,860 cases, followed by Kuala Lumpur (2,721 cases) and Selangor (1,858 cases)," said Yeoh.

She also said that a study by LPPKN showed that in 2014, more than one-third of first marriages that are less than five years ended with divorce or separation due to various reasons.

Among the main reasons for men to file divorce are irreconcilable differences (56.2%), unfaithful wives (11.8%) and meddling from in-laws (10%).

For women, about 38% said that among the main reasons for divorce are irreconcilable differences, followed by unfaithful husbands (20.5%) and irresponsible husbands (15.2%).

To another question, Yeoh also said that the Ministry is looking into having mandatory pre-wedding courses for non-Muslims as currently it is only compulsory for Muslims to attend such courses.

"At the moment, there are no mandatory courses that need to be attended by non-Muslim couples.

"But looking at the statistics, we are starting discussions for the Ministry to find ways to make it mandatory to attend such courses.

"I think this is a need because many get married without realising the problems that they face in the future. If they have counselling, they can enter marriages with eyes wide open and not be shocked when there are problems during the marriage," said Yeoh.

Copyright: The Star Online/ Asia News Network