KUALA LUMPUR: The mandatory pre-marriage programmes for Muslims have not lowered divorce rates, says Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.
The Women, Family and Community Development Minister said the programmes helped to prepare couples before marriage – but not after.
"If couples want to divorce, it can't be controlled. It's very subjective," she said after closing the Women's Leadership Capacity Building Workshop National Series 1 (political leadership) on Tuesday (June 20).
She said there are no plans now to mandate the pre-marriage courses for non-Muslim couples.
"We leave it up to (couples) to choose whether or not to attend. The pre-marriage course is open to people of all races," she said, adding that the course attendance has been encouraging.
She said the pre-marriage course benefits couples as it provides marriage, family and financial management counselling.
It was reported in March that the ministry was drafting a proposal for committee to study the feasibility of mandating pre-marriage courses for all couples.
According to the Statistics Department's latest figures, non-Muslim divorces increased by 30.4% from 9,419 in 2020 to 12,284 in 2021.
The number of Muslim divorces dropped by 16.4% in 2021, with 31,650 cases recorded compared with 37,853 in 2020.
During her speech, Nancy said in the 15th General Election, 187 female candidates (15.6%) were fielded against 1,199 male candidates for 222 parliamentary constituencies.
Thirty women were elected.
"This is a progressive and encouraging sign that more women will be nominated.
"However, compared with 14.9% or 33 female members in GE14, the number of women in Parliament has declined.
"This is a sign to adopt a different strategy, such as 30% representation or 73.5 seats contested by women in the upcoming state elections," she added.
