ISKANDAR PUTERI, Sept 7 ― A total of 1,585 marriages between Muslim couples in Johor ended in divorce between March and July this year, state executive councillor Tosrin Jarvanthi said today.
Tosrin, who is in charge of Islamic affairs in the state, said the data was from the Johor Shariah Court.
“At the same time, a total of 1,054 complaints of domestic problems were received by the District Kadi’s Office, hotline number and the Family, Social and Community Service Centre in the same period,” the Bukit Permai assemblyman told the Johor state assembly.
He was replying Andrew Chen Kah Eng (PH-Stulang) who asked about the increase in social and family problems in Johor due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tosrin said Johor Baru was the district with the most number of divorces at 830 cases, followed by Batu Pahat (158 cases), Kluang (150), Muar and Kota Tinggi (97) and Pontian (91).
But it was not all gloom in Johor as 9,614 Muslim couples tied the knot between January and July this year.
“Johor Baru recorded 2,917 married couples, followed by Batu Pahat (1,622), Muar (961), Kota Tinggi (880) and Kluang (672),” Tosrin said.
Data from the Malaysian Shariah Judiciary Department showed a total of 71,806 divorce cases nationwide from January 2020 to June this year, averaging 132 cases a day.
Among the reasons given for divorces during the pandemic was financial stress caused by job loss and business closures that affected the people’s income during the movement control order.
