PETALING JAYA: The move to aid underprivileged single mothers with legal help has been welcomed by women’s groups, who also called for immediate measures to ensure the assistance is fair, timely and easily accessible.
The Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Women and Single Mothers Association (Witus) praised the government’s Budget 2026 allocation to support 5,000 poor single mothers involved in court cases such as divorce and child custody disputes.
Its president Sheilla Tukimin said the allocation would not only ease the mothers’ financial burden but also help shorten the lengthy court process.
She said the drawn-out legal battles often leave women financially and emotionally drained long before a verdict is delivered.
Sheilla said many Witus members had spent years trying to resolve their cases through low-fee legal aid centres, which are understaffed and struggling to meet demand.
Sheilla herself endured a nine-year legal process before her divorce was finalised, a period she described as “mentally and financially punishing”.
Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) executive director Nazreen Nizam said the government should prioritise accessibility to ensure the effectiveness of the scheme.
Nazreen said this means ensuring clear, multilingual information about eligibility and application processes.
“Procedures should be simplified so that survivors are not overwhelmed by bureaucracy; and embedding trauma-informed, survivor-centred approaches across all service touchpoints.
“Legal aid officers and lawyers engaged under this programme must be trained on gender sensitivity and the dynamics of abuse, so they can respond empathetically and safely.”
Nazreen said the allocation can be effectively carried out by cooperating with NGOs that serve as the first point of contact for many women in crisis, offering victims case management, counselling, and shelter support.
Association of Women Lawyers vice-president Denise Lim explained that the allocation can make it easier for single mothers to get orders for child maintenance and to enforce them, particularly single mothers who face domestic violence be it financial and or emotional.
“Enforcement is also a problem because even if an order is obtained, if the other party doesn’t comply, enforcement is not automatic and the party has to go back to court to prove a case for enforcement,” she added.
Another thing that can be improved in addition to the allocation, Lim said, is to increase the number of specialised courts to speed up case processing.
