Proceedings of the 12th UUM International Legal Conference 2023 (UUMILC 2023)

Non-Muslim Wife Maintenance in Malaysia: A Right or Privilege in the 21st Century?

Authors
Sridevi Thambapillay1, *
1Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
*Corresponding author. Email: sridevit@um.edu.my
Corresponding Author
Sridevi Thambapillay
Available Online 10 January 2024.
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-352-8_7How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Wife Maintenance; Right; Privilege
Abstract

More than six decades have passed since Malaysia achieved her independence. Our nation has witnessed tremendous developments in various fields. However, the same cannot be said for certain vulnerable groups, one of them being women. It cannot be denied that women in the 21st century are far more advanced when compared to their predecessors. Nevertheless, where it concerns their legal rights, their plight is deplorable in certain situations. Malaysia has signed and ratified the Convention on The Elimination Against All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and thereafter amended Article 8(2) of the Federal Constitution to prohibit discrimination based on gender, to show her commitment to uplift women’s rights. Unfortunately, there are still certain women’s right that need to be revisited, one of which is the right to maintenance. The Malaysian statutes on wife maintenance are drafted in a manner which gives the readers the impression that non-Muslim women do not have a right to claim maintenance from their husbands. It is basically at the discretion of the Court. This was further confirmed in the recent case of YAY v WHO & Anor [2023] MLRHU 48, where the learned High Court judge, inter alia, stated that a married woman does not have an automatic right to claim maintenance from her husband. Hence, the purpose of the paper is as follows: first, to revisit the current laws and cases on wife maintenance, secondly to compare the position under Shariah Law as well as Singaporean law and finally to recommend suggestions to alleviate this issue. At the end of the day, it should not be forgotten that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.

Copyright
© 2024 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 12th UUM International Legal Conference 2023 (UUMILC 2023)
Series
Atlantis Highlights in Social Sciences, Education and Humanities
Publication Date
10 January 2024
ISBN
978-94-6463-352-8
ISSN
2667-128X
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-352-8_7How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2024 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

TY  - CONF
AU  - Sridevi Thambapillay
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/01/10
TI  - Non-Muslim Wife Maintenance in Malaysia: A Right or Privilege in the 21st Century?
BT  - Proceedings of the 12th UUM International Legal Conference 2023 (UUMILC 2023)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 95
EP  - 114
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-352-8_7
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-352-8_7
ID  - Thambapillay2024
ER  -