Rising divorce rate a worrying trend

Hanaffi Hidup
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

DIVORCE declared outside the Syariah Court account for the highest of all divorce statistics in Brunei Darussalam, with 106 reported cases in 2012 alone.

In 2012, Brunei-Muara District accounted for the highest among all four districts with 122 cases filed.

Tutong came second with 33 reported cases, Kuala Belait with 18 and three in Temburong District.

The overall rate of divorce remained stagnant for 2011 and 2012 with a total of 176 cases altogether. Tutong district however saw a slight increase from 27 cases in 2011 to 33 in 2012.

According to Syariah law, a divorce should be filed legally in the court. Nevertheless, the instances of husband divorcing their wife outside the court's jurisdiction was a mainstay among the public.

This could happen due to intense argument where either one of the spouses felt that the marriage could no longer be saved and they could not wait for legal proceedings to put the "talaq" (divorce) into effect.

According to the Brunei Darussalam Government Gazette Chapter 55 (Islamic Family Law 1999), "a man who has divorced his wife by pronouncing a talaq in whatever form outside of the Court and without the permission of the Court, shall within seven days report the pronouncement of talaq to the court."

The court would then hold a hearing to determine if the "talaq" had been validly pronounced in accordance with Syariah law. If so, the court would make an order confirming the divorce by "talaq" where it would be recorded and a certified copy of the record delivered to the Registrar and the Chief Registrar for registration.

Failure for the husband to report the pronouncement to the court within seven days would result in two penalties; first, he would have to pay a total of $2000 for declaring the "talaq" outside of Syariah court. Secondly, another $2000 should be paid for going over seven days to report the pronouncement of divorce. However, if the man was unable to pay, he would be imprisoned up to six months.

Apart from the "talaq" pronounced outside the legal boundary of Syariah court, divorce by "fasakh" was the second most prevalent trend in the Sultanate. There was however a decrease of "fasakh" in 2012 with twenty seven reported cases compared to forty-six in 2011.

"Fasakh" is an Arabic referrence to annulment of a marriage by reason or any circumstances permitted by Syariah law.

Dipetik dari - The Brunei Times