Good governance in marriage from Islamic Family Law perspective with special reference to Malaysia

Abstract

This study explores the truth of the claim that the issue of good governance has been largely overlooked in regulating Muslim marriages in Malaysia. Despite the rules laid down in Islam, governance mechanisms of marriages in Malaysia remain weak. This is seen in the increasing number of marriage problems that can potentially destroy the marriage institution. By way of remedy, this study proposes solutions for good governance by strengthening the regulations of Muslim marriages in Malaysia from legal and administrative perspectives. It focuses on four very pertinent and unresolved issues, i.e., the procedure and formalities before the solemnisation of marriage, runaway/syndicate marriage, abuse of polygamous marriage, and underage marriage. In the conceptual phase, this study analyses marriage in Islam in the context of good governance. In this regards, our theoretical discussion examines the relationship of marriage in Islam and the concept of good governance by highlighting the right of the state to intervene in family matters. This study employs two types of methods, library research, and field research. Library research is used as the first method to collect data for examining governance mechanisms for regulating Muslim marriages. The finding is supported by field research in which semi-structured interviews are conducted with certain related respondents. This research found that the absence of good governance has resulted in various unresolved issues such as inefficiency in the procedures and formalities before the solemnisation of marriage, unsuccessfulness in governing the runaway/syndicate marriage and child marriage, and the increasing number of abused cases of polygamous marriages. This research has identified both legal and administrative perspectives which contribute to those weaknesses.