Govt mulling compatibility test for couples wanting to marry

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is mulling introducing an online compatibility quiz for singles and dating couples, says Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister Hannah Yeoh.

The voluntary quiz, modelled on marriage counselling questionnaires, is akin to a personality test to allow young dating couples to see if they properly match before tying the knot to avoid marriages ending up in divorce.

"We are considering whether to make the compatibility quiz online for the young.

"It is akin to a personality test that young people usually take," she told reporters in Parliament lobby on Tuesday (July 9).

She said the quiz was not confined to only couples, but could be done by a young person wishing to know more of his or her personality traits.

Earlier, in Dewan Rakyat, Yeoh said that married couples between 30 and 34 years old suffer the highest rate of divorce.

"It was found that most couples rush into marriage without first knowing themselves or their partners well enough.

"That is why we are considering a compatibility test," she said when answering a question raised by Datuk Jalaluddin Alias (BN-Jelebu).

She said that based on a study, she said that "misunderstanding" was cited as the main cause of marriage breakdown among young couples.

"For women, one third of them cited misunderstanding as reason for divorce followed by unfaithful and irresponsible husbands.

"For men, almost half of them cited misunderstanding as reason for divorce, followed by interference by in-laws and infidelity," she said.

Based on the National Registration Department records, Yeoh said that between 2013 and May 31 this year, 17,359 trouble marriages were due to financial issues.

This was followed by third party interference with 6,574 cases including 4,884 cases of emotional and physical abuse.

Yeoh also said that there was a drop in the number of marriages from 200,274 in 2016 to 190,532 in 2017.

She added that the number of divorces had also dropped from 51,642 cases in 2016 to 49,965 cases.

She said that Selangor had the highest rate of divorce for non-Muslim couples with 2,068 cases, followed by Johor with 1,526 cases and Perak with 1,249 cases.

As for Muslim couples, she said that Selangor recorded the highest number with 8,794 cases, followed by Johor with 4,441 cases and Kedah with 3,551 cases.