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JULY 30, 2003
SMS-style divorce sparks concern=20

Better to talk to each other, says Mahathir; Abdullah warns against
fraud, saying anyone can send such messages=20

By Brendan Pereira=20
MALAYSIA CORRESPONDENT=20

KUALA LUMPUR - A court ruling allowing Muslim men to end their marriages
through SMS has struck a raw nerve in Malaysia, with even the country's
two most powerful men lending their voices to the debate.

At the centre of the controversy is a ground-breaking decision handed
down last week in a nondescript lower Syariah court in Gombak, Selangor.
Judge Mohamad Fauzi Ismail ruled that a divorce declared via SMS, or
Short Messaging Service, was valid provided it was verified by the
court.

The ruling annulled the 18-month marriage between Mr Shamsudin Latif and
Ms Azida Fazlina.

The husband had sent the wife an SMS saying: 'If you do not leave your
parents' house, you will be divorced.'

Women's groups, Puteri Umno and individuals all blasted the court
decision, saying it could lead to a spike in divorce rates and encourage
men to end their marriages in a cold and anonymous way.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad yesterday gave his take on the
controversy.

He noted that although delivering a divorce declaration through SMS was
found to be 'perfectly legal, perfectly Islamic', he preferred a more
personal approach to ending a union, and offered advice on how men
considering divorce should act.=20

'We hope of course that instead of sending messages, he would look at
the picture of his beautiful wife, call and talk to her over the phone,'
he said. 'Maybe she will cry and you will retract the move to divorce.
This is progress.'

Also yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he had
directed the Department of Islamic Advancement Malaysia to look into the
use of SMS to end Muslim marriages.

'All kinds of people can SMS,' he said. 'There may be fraud because SMS
can be sent by anyone. I can understand why the women are very worried.
There is a possibility of being duped through SMS.'

Ms Julita Ilhani Abdul Jabbar, head of Puteri Umno's legal bureau, felt
that all divorce declarations should be filed and verified in court.

'We are not against men making divorce pronouncements but there are more
ethical ways of doing it,' she said. 'When marriages are solemnised in a
traditional and Islamic way, it is unfair for divorce to be uttered in
an unethical manner.'

Under Islamic law, a man who wants a separation must declare 'I divorce
you' to his wife three times before taking it to a Syariah court.=20

In 2001, religious courts in the United Arab Emirates allowed men to
make a divorce declaration through SMS provided four conditions were
met: the husband should be the sender; he should have the desire to
divorce the wife; the phrasing in the SMS should be unmistakable; and
the wife should receive it.

Malaysia's religious authorities have concurred with this ruling.


Randolph Kluver
School of Communication and Information
Nanyang Technological University
31 Nanyang Link
Singapore, 637718
(65) 6790-5770
Fax (65) 6792-4329
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