Nation Marital Matters Should Best Be Left Alone

THE Government may well stir up another controversy if it should decide to get non-Muslim couples to attend a course before they get married.

The Women and Family Development Ministry is thinking about this and will wait for comments from non-governmental organisations if this proposal has any merit before pursuing this matter further.

The ministry should forget about this idea even though Muslim couples have to attend such a course before tying the knot. It may be inappropriate for the ministry to step in where angels fear to tread.

As far as non-Muslims are concerned, this is a very private matter and best left to the couples to sort things out for themselves.

If the divorce rate has gone up among them, so be it.

It is unlikely that attending a course will do much good since people get hitched for many reasons, apart from love, which not many of us know what this special feeling is all about anyway.

It may even be seen as an attempt to interfere in the private affairs of individuals, who feel that it is their personal business why they should wish to spend the rest of their lives with their future partners.

Perhaps the ministry and other NGOs interested in getting more people to be married should help the bachelors and single women to find a life partner instead. This has become such a serious problem that even political parties are playing Cupid so that these unmarried individuals can meet the right partners to reduce the number of singles in the country. It is so easy for career women to miss the boat once they have reached their 30's because they spent too much time in getting a senior management position rather than landing on a love boat.

By the time they realise that their marriage prospects are fading after reaching their professional goals, it will be a bit late in the day to find the eligible guys to share their lives with.

However, there are existing organisations which are lending a helping hand to the non-Muslim couples wishing to get married. This is done by their religious leaders, such as the priest or pastor for Christians, and other similar bodies for those of other faiths. So the ministry should not be too concerned with the marital future of the non-Muslims and it must be the belief of those involved in a marriage that they know what they are doing anyway. Some couples may just get it right while others will find that they have made a mistake. Most will believe that the success or failure of their marriage is dependent on fate, something which is definitely outside of their control.

www.thestar.com.my