KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council has urged the government to amend the Law Reform
(Marriage and Divorce ) Act 1976 to allow Muslim converts to dissolve their
civil marriage in the High Court.
Its family law committee member, Pushpa Ratnam, said the
existing provisions in the law did not allow the converting spouse to annul the
union made under civil law.
"The law is clear that only the party who did not convert can petition for
divorce in the High Court," she said.
Pushpa said this in response to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi's statement that controversial issues such as conversions needed a
solution.
Abdullah said complications in a conversion arose when couples of different
faiths dissolved their marriages.
Pushpa said the prime minister acknowledged that there was a problem when a
party converted to Islam without informing the other party and their children.
She said the conflict arose because the Law Reform Act generally did not apply
to Muslims.
Pushpa said the council wanted amendments to be made to section 51 of the act to
allow the converting party to petition for divorce.
"The couple must be given the opportunity to settle their matrimonial disputes
in the same court," she said.
Pushpa said one group felt that the civil marriage of a couple had come to an
end when a spouse had converted to Islam.
"Our stand is that if the couple's marriage was solemnised under the civil law,
then they should go to the High Court to dissolve the union," she said.
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