KOTA BARU: A total of 207 Malaysian couples who had tied the knot in Thailand participated in the Kelantan government's three-month legalisation programme to encourage such couples to register their unions back home.
State Islamic Development, Dakwah, Information and Regional Relations Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Nassuruddin Daud said the programme started on November 14, 2021 and ended on February 14 last year.
He said, during the period, a total of 207 cases were registered with the respective religious authorities offices statewide.
"The religious authorities had targeted couples who had tied knot in southern Thailand in 2005 or earlier, but those who turned up to register were not specifically from that period.
"Sixty cases were registered at the state Islamic Family Law division, 46 cases at the Pasir Mas religious office and the rest in other districts including Tumpat, Tanah Merah, Bachok and here," he said replying to Mohd Adanan Hassan (Pas-Kelaboran) at the state legislative assembly sitting here today.
Mohd Nassuruddin said various reasons were given by the couples who chose to marry in southern Thailand.
"These included failure to get their family's approval, the man's need to hide polygamy from his first wife, as well as the inability to secure a 'wali' (guardian)," he said.
He said couples who fail to register their marriage in Malaysia can be fined not more than RM1,000 or jailed less than six months, or both, under the State Islamic Family Enactment 2002.
It is understood that the number of couples who turned up to register their marriages was lower than the overall number of couples who chose to marry in Thailand.
NST had previously reported that men with "Datuk" titles made up more than half of the Malaysians who crossed the Malaysia-Thailand border to tie the knot in Narathiwat.
Narathiwat Islamic Religious Council committee member Abdul Rahman Yusof had said that these people did so as they could not get permission from their first wives back home, which was a prerequisite in Malaysia.
He said these men comprised ordinary folks as well as civil servants and politicians and come from different backgrounds — from regular blue collar workers to government servants and VIPs, including Datuks.
They would usually chose Narathiwat or the Sungai Golok sub-province to take on second or third wives.
It was understood that before the Covid-19 pandemic, around 100 Malaysian men would get hitched in southern Thailand monthly.
After the borders were reopened, the number now stood at 40 to 70 Malaysians in the Sungai Golok sub-province alone.