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Re-think on divorce via text message

Staff, CNETAsia CNETAsia

Published: 31 Jul 2003 10:40 BST

Malaysian authorities may soon overturn a controversial court ruling that allows Muslims to end marriages by text message.

Last week, a landmark ruling by the Islamic Syariah Court stated that an SMS (short message service) is valid as a statement of divorce if it is verified in court. However, the move has been met with much protest from civil rights groups, who claim that this manner of divorce is an insult to women.

Due to the outcry, the government is planning to put the brakes on the SMS divorce system, local daily The Star reported.

The report said Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and his cabinet ministers unanimously agreed that this is not the right way for Muslim couples to split up and is putting together a proposal to outlaw the practice.

Under the plan, divorces declared via impersonal channels like SMS, email, letters, faxes and telephone calls will be considered null and void and will not be validated by the Muslim court, said the report.

Authorities say the move aims to protect Islam from ridicule, because allowing SMS break-ups could give the impression that divorce is a trivial matter in the religion, the report added.

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Could it be that ISP’s are making this out to be a bigger problem than it actually is? We’re a small country with an internet penetration of less than 60%, for every Youtuber there’s someone who only uses the internet to check their emails, more people surf on their mobile handsets than a few years ago. Surely things should even themselves up.