Saturday, March 29, 2008

Gender Discrimination in Syari'ah Court?

I went to KL last week for a training. My colleague, who is also a good friend, joined the same session. She missed the second day morning session because she had to go to a syari'ah court for the verdict for her case. She is requesting for a fasakh for over a year and had moved to a new house . Her ex-husband made a fuss about picking up their children at their old residence and had my friend arrested since she failed to show up at the old residence on one weekend. My friend was bailed at RM2,000 as per the judge's instruction simply for that act, for wanting the children to be safe (the old residence was rather dangerous). She then filed a case against her ex-husband to have the child picked up at the new residence and the verdict was
announced that morning.


She did not say anything when she arrived that morning. When we break for lunch, I asked her if everything is okay and from her solemn face, I knew that it did not go well. She lost the case.


Facts:

  1. The ex-husband tried to hit her last time when she sent the children to the old residence.
  2. The distance between the old residence and the new residence is too far, it's economically and geographically insane.
  3. The husband never give her and the children nafkah in their two years of separation.
  4. She was arrested as if she is a criminal, when she only tried to be a mother.
  5. The judge has sided with the ex-husband even before her case was heard.

Bottom line: She was being discriminated.


She told me even her lawyer was surprised that they lost the case since they felt that the case is rock solid. She is worried now since her request for fasakh is still ongoing and it will be heard by that same judge. She has lost thousands for the past two years and now she is going to appeal for the case that she lost, which would easily add another thousands.


She plans to file a complaint and asked me if I have friends who have a connection to the big people. I asked Sarimah for DS Shahrizat contact but was told that DS Shahrizat is not the person to contact for these type of cases. She gave me other options such as Sisters in Islam and Awam.





Sisters in Islam (SIS) is an independent non-governmental organisation,
formed in 1988, which believes in an Islam
that upholds the principles
of equality, justice, freedom
and dignity.





I also had a chance to talk to a very experienced lawyer and he told me that my friend has several options. She can complain to Ketua Hakim Syari'i, MB Selangor or straight to Sultan Selangor since he is the Head of the Religion of Islam in Selangor.



AWAM is an independent feminist

organisation committed to improving

the lives of women in Malaysia.




I know that she sounds a little paranoid. In her shoes, she has to be. There are a lot of story where the divorce cases lasted as long as 12 years. Not only it will involve a lot of money, she will waste her time and energy for unnecessary problem.


So, I'm asking you to help. Maybe not on her case. I am asking you to say something on this issue so that no one else would ever have to go through this.


p/s I think long and hard before I write this entry. I feel weird telling something so personal though she gave her full consent to me. Still, I want to put it out there so that people would know. So, I tried to not describe my friend and her ex-husband's personality as much as possible and lay out the facts as accurate as I could.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my blog, it is about the Computador, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://computador-brasil.blogspot.com. A hug.

Saya Yang Ayu said...

Tg, tak boleh minta tukar judge ker?
The problem is to her the verdict is not just and fair.
Sometimes to ease process, she needs to be an examplery citizen. Like try her very best to do what the court or ex husband says. try not to be seen as rebellious. sometimes you to do all the things you dont really want to get something you want. then once you get the thing that you want, you can just forget about the thing that you dont want.
if any of that makes any sense!

thats how the way the world is. do not conform, just play with the game. in an ideal world we do not have to play games to get want we want, but as you know we are not in an ideal world, you need to play the games, you need to be "seen" as conforming to their rules and accomodate how they see you.

Good luck to her. If she needs the guy to not be a guy let me know.

Mardiana Kamaruddin said...

@lina: Hi lina, thanks for your response.

Unfortunately she cannot tukar to another judge. She is now tgh nak buat appeal for the case pasal nak where to pick up the kids. So, kalau appeal mmg definitely another judge. It's just that it would cost her a lot of money la..

yup yup i understand what u mean but she really didn't rebel much in the court. I can't say much about the husband la since he keep on harassing her despite he got the restraining order from the court. So, exemplary citizen might not work with the exhusband.. =(