ALOR STAR: The Kedah government will formulate a mechanism to simplify the marriage registration process for Muslim couples in the state who tie the knot abroad.
The system would, among other measures, slash the fine for marrying outside of Malaysia by as much as 90 per cent.
It is understood that a number of Kedah couples who married abroad have shied away from registering their union with the local Islamic authority due to the red tape involved and the penalties they would face. As a result, their union is not recognised and they are unable to enjoy the rights enjoyed by other married Muslim couples.
Kedah Islamic Religious Affairs committee chairman Datuk Mohd Rawi Abd Hamid said if everything goes to plan, the “amnesty” programme will begin next month, with priority given to couples with children who have yet to obtain their birth certificates.
However, Mohd Rawi (BN-Ayer Hangat) stressed that the programme is in no way an indirect encouragement by the state government for Muslim men to enter into polygamous marriages by sneaking across the border.
"This programme is meant to protect the interests of wives and children, because for as long as their marriage is not registered with the local Islamic authority, the women and children are not entitled to enjoy any benefit from the marriage.
"In most cases, the children suffer the most, as the parents cannot apply for birth certificates for the children because they had failed to register the marriage with the local Islamic religious office.
"The woman is also not entitled to claim any rights from the husband, such as on matters of property and wealth should they divorce or if the husband dies, since the marriage is not recognised here," Mohd Rawi said in respond to a question from Md Zuki Yusof (PAS-Kuala Ketil) during the state assembly sitting here today.
Mohd Rawi said the state government is also looking into reducing the fine on couples married on foreign soil from between RM3,000 and RM4,000 to between RM300 and RM400 to encourage couples to register their marriage.
He stressed, however, that the success of each marriage’s registration is subject to verification of the status of the foreign party which handled the solemnisation process.
"We have had a series of discussions with the Kedah Islamic Religious Department and the Kedah Syariah Court, and I am working closely with the Women and Social Welfare Committee chairman Datuk Suraya Yaacob to iron out the details," he said.
When met on the sidelines of the state assembly sitting, Mohd Rawi said that there is no exact figure on the number of Muslim couples in Kedah who have yet to register their marriage, but he expects that the number is quite significant, as Kedah borders southern Thailand.
"In Langkawi alone, there are about 300 couples, and I believe that the figure across the state is quite large, because it is estimated that for every reported case, there are three cases not reported," he said.
It is common for married men who wish to take a second wife or more, to marry a young wife in southern Thai to conceal the marriage from their first wives.
In most cases, new couples fail to register their marriage with the local Islamic religious authority to avoid paying the fine, or simply to conceal the marriage from the man’s first or current wives.
This has resulted in the children of such couples not having birth certificates, and the women losing their rights as wives.