In 2014 Malaysia released the alarming statistic that a divorce was happening every 10 minutes.
Now Sinar Harian reports that divorce among the elderly Muslims of Terengganu has been on the rise for the last 5 years.
The increase came to notice after the number of couples aged 60 and over attending marriage counseling increased at the Terengganu Religious Affairs Department (JHEAT).
One might conclude that although the win-loss ratio may not be in their favor, they are incredibly effective at getting to the bottom of marital discord.
Global studies in silver year divorces have observed that couples find themselves with empty nests, and the children that often held them together, now have lives of their own.
Kuala Terengganu JHEAT officer, Mohd Ariffin Jusoh, agrees with this.
One of the most common problems he finds is that most couples wait until their children have grown up until seeking a dissolution of the marriage.
Unfortunately, although divorce among the Malay community has risen 2.3 times between 2004 and 2014, many rural, poor women are still finding it hard to seek a divorce from unhappy unions.
Lack of financial independence keeps them bound to the monetary assistance from their husbands.
However, Bernama reported, the Second Honeymoon Programme carried out in Terengganu since 2009 has reconciled nearly 99% out of 1,094 couples intending to divorce.
State Health, Women, Family and Community Development Commit-tee chairman Datuk Mohamad Pehmi Yusof, said the programme managed by the Terengganu Family Development Foundation (YPKT), had been most effective.
He said the programme had given a positive impact on getting couples and families to patch up and continue their lives.
“Nearly 99% of the couples did not proceed with their divorce plan after going through the motivation programme and carrying out various activities together with their partners,” he said after officiating at a parenting convention, here yesterday.
Mohamad Pehimi said that 40% of divorce cases was caused by a third party while the second most commonly given reason was the failure of couples to better understand each other’s tasks after marriage causing irreconcilable differences in their relationship.
“Most of the divorce cases involved couples who have been married between one to five years and they are mostly aged between 30-35 years,” he said.
Thus far, records showed 156 couples had divorced in Terengganu on 2015.
