Disappointed Nazri not so confident now
Written by Chan Kok Leong, The Edge
Family disputes concerning conversion of underaged children and related battles such as custody and spousal support will have to wait a bit longer now.
And while the government has "done its best" to draft the various amendments, the matter now lies with the Conference of Rulers.
During a press conference at the Parliament lobby today, Datuk Seri Mohamad Nazri Abdul Aziz said he is "no longer confident that the amendments will be debated anymore".
"Together with the Attorney-General’s office, we have worked very hard to find a solution to this matter," said the minister in prime minister’s department in charge of parliament and legal affairs.
"We even have the assistance of Chief Syarie Judge of the Syariah Judiciary Department, Datuk Sheikh Ghazali Abdul Rahman, to assist us in the drafting of the new amendments.
"But the Conference of Rulers decided yesterday (Monday) to defer its decision on proposed amendments to state enactments and asked for more time to get feedback from the various state religious councils first," said Nazri.
After a series of court issues pertaining the conversion of minors and divorce proceedings between a Muslim and a non-Muslim, the government decided to tackle the issue by amending three laws.
Nazri, who heads the law reform committee, had proposed amendments to Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976, Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Act 1993 and Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) Act 1984.
The amendments were to touch on the dissolution of marriage, right to custody of children, maintenance of children and wife and division of matrimonial assets.
Although confident in April, Nazri said he is no longer sure if the amendments will see the light of day.
According to him, there is no more time to debate and pass the amendments in the current Parliament sitting which ends on Thursday.
"Any debates on these bills will have to be done in the last sitting from October to December," he added. "But with the Budget debate in October and other matters too, it will be difficult."
Nazri also ruled out the possibility of the government tabling the bills without the approval of the Conference of Rulers.
"When cabinet mandated me with this task, I was told that all three bills must be tabled together with the Conference of Rulers’ approval. It was a package deal. All or nothing," said the visibly disappointed minister.
When asked if he knew why the Conference of Rulers had asked for a delay, Nazri said no.
And when asked on how this will affect the current marriage disputes in court, Nazri said: "Those cases will have to wait a bit more. The cabinet policy decided in April has no bearing on the cases as it is not being made into law yet.
"All we can do now is to stay hopeful that this will be cleared up soon."
