By Staff
Thursday, July 31 2003 10:19 AM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,39144091,00.htm

Malaysian authorities may soon overturn a controversial court ruling which allows Muslims to end marriages through mobile text messages.

Last week, a landmark ruling by the Islamic Syariah Court stated that an SMS (short message service) is valid as a statement of divorce if it is verified in court. However, the move has been met with much protest from civil rights groups, who claim that this manner of divorce is an insult to women.

Due to the outcry, the government is planning to put the brakes on the SMS divorce system, local daily The Star reported.

The report said Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his cabinet ministers unanimously agreed that this is not the right way for Muslim couples to split up and is putting together a proposal to outlaw the practice.

Under the plan, divorces declared via impersonal channels like SMS, e-mail, letters, faxes and telephone calls will be considered null and void and will not be validated by the Muslim court, said the report.

Authorities say the move aims to protect Islam from ridicule, because allowing SMS break-ups could give the impression that divorce is a trivial matter in the religion, the report added.