Enforcing monogamous law
NRD to check on marital status of non-Muslim couples before marriage
KUCHING: The state National Registration Department ( NRD Sarawak) will come up with a proposal to the Chief Minister’s Office to require all district offices to conduct marital status check on non-Muslim couples applying to get married according to their custom.
Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said this is to enable the district offices to fi nd out if the individuals are still in civil marriage or not.
“This check will be made when a couple is present at the district off ice to apply for marriage registration according to their custom. NRD Sarawak will come out with a special form that can be submitted by the district offices to any of the nearby NRD offices,” she told a press conference after chairing a special committee on citizenship at her office here yesterday.
On top of that, Fatimah wanted community leaders to check with the district officer, who is the registrar, before presiding over a marriage according to their custom to ensure that the couple intending to get married fulfi l the requirement of the laws that non-Muslims can only have monogamous marriage.
Citing Part Two, Section 5(1) of the Law Reform ( Marriage and Divorce) Act (Act 174) 1976; Native Custom ( Declaration) Ordinance, 1996; Majlis Adat Istiadat Sarawak Ordinance, 1977; Native Court Ordinance, 1992; Native Court Rules, 1993; Laws of Sarawak ( Chapter 55) - Native Customary Marriages ( Maintenance) Ordinance, 2003, Fatimah said the laws stipulated that non-Muslim individuals can only have monogamous marriage and that no marriage can occur if
This check will be made when a couple is present at the district office to apply for marriage registration according to their custom.
a person is still in a valid marriage under any law, religion, custom or usage with any other individual.
Fatimah said based on the information obtained through the strategic cooperation between Majlis Adat Istiadat Sarawak ( Mais) to obtain access to Native Customary Marriage Electronic System ( NAMES) that had been implemented on Dec 14, last year, there were 167 individuals who tried to register their marriage through civil marriage between January and April this year, although they were still married through customary marriage.
“Before this, there was no communication between Mais and NRD but starting last year, through NAMES there is communication. Through this way, when a couple wants to register their marriage through civil marriage, check will be made using NAMES to see whether anyone of them has been married before ( through customary marriage) and if it is found that any of them is still married, then the civil marriage cannot proceed.”
In stressing that the measures taken by the government are intended to protect the welfare of women, children and even men, Fatimah said Part Two, Section 5(1) of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act (Act 174) 1976 stipulated that if a man is still in a marriage under any law, religion, custom or usage with a woman and at the same time married another woman, the woman in the second marriage will not have any right to inherit the man’s property when he dies and does not leave any will.
Datuk Fatimah Abdullah, Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development
“Besides that, we will also face difficulty when dealing with the application for citizenship for the children when it is found that the man ( father) is still married through civil marriage, but has another relationship with another woman and tries to register their marriage under customary marriage or vice versa.
“Because our law is very clear that there can be only monogamous marriage, so the customary marriage could not be registered and the children who are born outside marriage will have a problem when they apply for identification documents and citizenship.”
Fatimah said prior to the availability of NAMES last year, check was done by the NRD on whether any of the couple who intended to get married through civil marriage had any children.
“If any of the couple has children, then the NRD will check who is the partner and whether the partner is the same person (wanting to get married). If it is different, then they will reject their marriage registration application.
“Even with no children, if the couple’s first marriage is customary marriage and if the man wants to get married again through civil marriage, then the registration for the civil marriage will not be valid because the man is still married. The same applies to will.”
Additionally, Fatimah said since 2006, Malaysian men were not allowed to marry foreign women through customary marriage after they had been married before through the same custom.
“The only way for them to get married is through civil marriage but it cannot proceed because the man is still married. Since they are not married, the couple will face problem when their children want to apply for citizenship under 15A of the Federal Constitution later on.”
In view of this, Fatimah said since the country only recognises monogamous marriage, the man will have to choose between the two women.
Among those present during the press conference were Assistant Minister of Law, StateFederal Relations and Project Monitoring Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, Assistant Minister of Women, Family and Childhood Development Rosey Yunus, State NRD director Jasni Jubli, Norazian Md Noh and Dayang Nurawidah Awang Suhaimi from the state NRD.