KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — Wedded couples should continue “dating” each other to stop their marriage falling apart, the women, family and community development ministry said today.

Its minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim also encouraged married couples to attend anger management courses to counter the high divorce rate in the country.

She told the Dewan Rakyat today that a third of first-time marriages that survived the five-year mark ended in divorce, a rate she hopes to reduce by encouraging spouses to attend one of the many programmes set up by the ministry.

“We even have a programme to encourage the husband and wife to go dating. This is for all, I encourage everyone here, the husbands and wives, to go dating.

“Don’t go dating with other people, go dating with your husband or wife. And when you go dating, don’t bring your kids,” she said in Parliament.

She explained that oftentimes, couples end up separating because they have forgotten the “basics” like going “dating, honeymoon, and such.”

She also said sometimes, the decision for spouses to divorce one another is one in a moment of anger, which is why the ministry also offers anger management therapy just like “in the West.”

“We call it anger therapy because now, anger, that’s where they make irrational decisions. So when they’re angry they make these decisions.

“We encourage those who get angry, we encourage them to go for therapy,” she said.

One of the ministry’s “quizzes,” Rohani added, also revealed that the main reason women have resorted to divorce was because of a lack of understanding between spouses, followed by being cheated on by their husbands as well as those who deemed their husbands as “irresponsible.”

When posed the same question to the men, half of them cited a lack of understanding being the main reason, followed by meddling of the in-laws and lastly, an unfaithful wife.