SINGAPORE : Divorces among Malay Muslims have been on a
downward trend since 2007.
But statistics show that many divorces occur within the
first 5 to 10 years of marriage.
So a public education campaign starts this week to get couples
better prepared for these critical years.
A drama titled "Mr Pakar" or "Mr Expert" may seem like your
ordinary sitcom.
But laughter aside, it approaches the financial, emotional and
mental preparation needed for a marriage. Its main target audience
are younger couples.
Customised radio programmes will also discuss issues raised in the
drama.
Separately, a commercial titled "The Promise" also aims to promote
the importance of seeking help if one's marriage is in
trouble.
"The idea is to alert them to some of the challenges, and help
them... how they can prepare themselves for this entirely new
experience. We want to address this as early as possible so that we
can reduce the divorce rate as much as possible within the Malay
Muslim community," said Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister-in-charge of
Muslim Affairs.
"These efforts are more focused, in terms of areas that we want to
do a bit more - the first 5 (to) ... 10 years of marriage are very
critical areas for us," he added.
-- CNA