SINGAPORE: Singapore's Minister in Charge of Muslim
Affairs, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, said there has been a steady decline in
the number of marriages involving minors in the
community.
Giving an update on the state of the Malay Muslim
community here, Dr Yaacob said the number of solemnizations
involving minors dropped by 18 per cent to 295 last year. This is a
sharp drop of 45 per cent since 2005.
Divorces involving persons who had been minors at the point of
marriage have also fallen by four per cent to 433 in 2009.
Dr Yaacob attributed the good progress to the various efforts
undertaken by the community.
These include marriage preparatory courses and an amendment to the
Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA) to raise the legal age of
marriage for Muslim couples from 16 to 18 years of age. From 1
March 2009, anyone who is below 18 years of age and wants to get
married is required to obtain a Special Marriage License
(SML).
Separately, Dr Yaacob also announced that two new mosques will be
built in Woodlands and Jurong West to meet the high demand for
prayer space in the area.
He said: "MCYS, together with MND, URA and MUIS, have studied the
issue. Based on our assessment, there is particularly high demand
for prayer space in Jurong West and Woodlands because they are
large towns with a significant Muslim population.
"In addition, the mosques in these areas also serve Muslim workers
from the nearby industrial estates at Tuas and Woodlands, as well
as students from the nearby tertiary institutions such as Nanyang
Technological University and Republic Polytechnic, during Friday
prayers.
"Unfortunately, there are no other mosques nearby which are able to
cope with the spill-over demand. Even after upgrading the existing
mosques to increase capacity, there would still be a shortage of
space.
"Therefore, I am pleased to announce that the government has
decided to reserve land for MUIS to build two additional mosques in
Woodlands and Jurong West."
Dr Yaacob added: "The community continues to progress in many
facets - be it education, skills or the many indicators of quality
of life. We benefit from the Singapore system and complement with
community self-help. However, there are pressing issues at the
bottom. These will require continued focus and results will take
time to show up."
- CNA/sc