KUALA TERENGGANU: A handsome RM670,000 has been spent on 863 honeymooning couples from 2009 to April this year by the Terengganu government
State health, women's, family and community development committee chairman Datuk Muhammad Pehimi Yusof said the expenses covered accommodation, course materials and transportation involving an estimated RM777 per couple.
"We started off with 15 couples for the first time in 2009 but it increased to 91 couples the following year, 40 in 2011, 157 in 2012, 88 in 2013, 369 last year and 103 for the first four months this year," he said.
Pehimi added that Terengganu was the only state to have introduced such a programme as a mechanism to enliven the husband-wife relationship, apart from saving marriages that are on the brink of a breakup.
"Studies have showed that the collapse of a family's instituitin is a result of social problems among the younger generation.
"The programme has been produced positive yields and we continously monitor the development of each participant so that they do not repeat their mistakes," he said.
Pehimi added that the Terengganu Family Development Foundation had thus far successfully brace up the family instituition and rehabilitated strained relationships of couples in the state.