Introduction

Singapore Muslims is governed in the matter of marriage and divorce by Muslims Ordinance, 1957, as amended by the 1960 Amendment. Several Muslim women's associations were formed with charitable and feminist aims, but most of them were short-lived. In 1949 and 1950 several Muslim leaders were expressing concern at the high divorce rate, and at public meetings as well as in the English and Malay press several factors were said to be responsible for frequent divorce: the youth and inexperience of many Muslim brides; and lack of an official conciliation machinery. The sections of the 1957 Ordinance which deal with the powers of the Court to make orders in matrimonial disputes do not specify in any detail the circumstances in which such orders shall be made. According to Malay customary law, a woman is entitled upon divorce to a share of property as was acquired by the couple during marriage; this property is known as harta sharikat or harta sa-pencharian.