Amending the Administration of Muslim Law Act to keep pace with the evolving needs of our Muslim community

Mr Deputy Speaker, I beg to move, “That the Bill be now read a second time”. 

This Bill proposes amendments to the Administration of Muslim Law Act, or “AMLA”.

The context for AMLA

Before we go into the specific amendments of this Bill, I would like to first share with Members the context for AMLA and how it supports our Muslim community.

AMLA was put in place during the founding years of our nation so that Muslims could continue to have matters pertaining to marriage, divorce and their estates governed by Muslim law.

1. This began during the British Administration. Even as the British brought English law to Singapore, the British Administration also allowed room for the indigenous inhabitants, the Malay-Muslims, to continue having their personal matters governed by their customs and beliefs, and AMLA continues this practice. 

In the founding years of our nation, Mr Ahmad Ibrahim, the first Attorney-General of Singapore, and leaders from the Muslim Advisory Board, the All-Malaya Muslim Missionary Society, the Mohammadiah Movement and the Singapore Religious Teachers’ Association, also known as PERGAS led the effort in establishing a central and uniting voice to represent Muslims in religious affairs.

1. Thus, AMLA established the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, also known as “Muis”, to be the central administrative body for the Muslim community, and designated the Mufti as the highest religious authority for Islam, in Singapore.

2. Among the community, there was a strong interest in strengthening the institution of marriage and to nurture stronger families.

3. So, AMLA also strengthened the Syariah Court (SYC) and the Registry of Muslim Marriages (ROMM).

The Government continues to maintain this legislative arrangement, which recognises the history and heritage of Malay-Muslims in Singapore.

When the Bill to pass this Act was first introduced in this Parliament in August 1966, then Minister for Social Affairs, Mr Othman Wok, emphasised that the Bill did not seek to deal with substantive Muslim law itself, but its administration. Let me emphasise this again - the Bill did not seek to deal with substantive Muslim law itself, but its administration. Muslim law derives from Muslim religious sources, and the Act does not alter this. Religious guidance and opinion come from the consensus of the asatizah community, led by Muis, and officially issued by the Fatwa Committee. This has been so and will always be so. Where AMLA pronounces on religious matters, it serves only to codify the guidance of the ulama.

Religious guidance is reviewed regularly and evolves to address the contemporary challenges that Muslims face.

Similarly, the AMLA is reviewed regularly.

1. This is to ensure that our laws reflect the prevailing and unique norms of our Singaporean Muslim community, the contemporary expression of our community’s faith, and address current socio-religious needs.

   1. For example, in 2008, this House amended AMLA to raise the minimum age of marriage under AMLA to 18 years of age to match the Women’s Charter. At that time, the Government observed that minor marriages were 2.5 times more likely to end in divorce, and consensus was growing that those under the age of 21 were generally less prepared for marriage. Then Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, consulted with the community leaders, and the community agreed it was important to signal that minor marriages were discouraged. Many other Muslim communities today still allow minor marriages. But we were prepared to look at the evidence, consider contemporary circumstances, and adopt norms that made sense for us so that we can stay true to our values of upholding the family. 

MCCY has been working closely with Muis, SYC, ROMM, and other key Muslim stakeholders to review the AMLA.

For this round of reviews, we seek to update the provisions governing the processes and operations of our statutory Muslim institutions, namely Muis, SYC and ROMM.

Broadly, the amendments seek to:

1. Enable these institutions to adopt new administrative processes, including digital ones, for greater efficiency and productivity, and

2. Keep pace with broader developments in family law, which Minister of State Sun Xueling spoke about on my behalf on the twelfth of January, when MSF moved the Women’s Charter (Amendment) Bill.

About half of the amendments seek to improve service delivery of SYC and ROMM and provide greater support to Muslim couples and families.

1. Some amendments allow the SYC and ROMM to adopt digital processes so that they can better serve the community. We have been testing out some of these processes as measures to comply with the safe-distancing requirements during the pandemic, and we have found that they worked well.

2. There are also other amendments that streamline the administration of Muslim marriages and divorces.

The Bill also contains amendments to enable Muis to better administer its functions and duties to support the Muslim community.

1. These include amendments to update provisions that are no longer relevant, and

2. amendments to enable Muis’ exercise of powers to collect fees for services rendered pursuant to its statutory functions. 

Finally, the Bill also seeks to extend to Muslim families support that is on par with what is provided to non-Muslim families under the recently amended Women’s Charter, in line with the Islamic principles that undergird Muslim families.

A draft of this Bill was published for public consultations from 13 August to 10 September 2021. We appreciated the broad support from the community for this Bill.

Improving SYC and ROMM’s service delivery 

Mr Deputy Speaker, digitalisation is necessary if our institutions are to provide relevant and effective support to the community. This became all the more salient with COVID-19.

1. When the pandemic hit and safe distancing became imperative, the Office of the Mufti issued a religious opinion that the use of live video-link technology to facilitate marriage solemnisations was compatible with Muslim religious law, and thus to keep everyone safe, ROMM adopted the video-link technology to allow marriage solemnisations to continue.

2. Similarly, the SYC adapted its court processes to allow litigants and witnesses to give evidence through approved channels of live video or live telecommunication links, to minimise disruption to divorce proceedings.

The pandemic necessitated new norms and habits we did not consider prior to 2020. We have learnt the importance of leveraging technology for contingencies, so that we can minimise disruptions to service delivery. Thus, this Bill contains amendments that will give SYC, an Appeal Board and ROMM permanent powers to conduct proceedings via remote communication technology in appropriate situations. The amendments do not replace the traditional mode of physical proceedings but enable SYC, an Appeal Board and ROMM to adopt digital alternative modes of conducting proceedings, if the situations call for it.  This is covered by Clauses 3, 6, 14, 15, 22 and 23.

The Bill also seeks to improve the service experience of Court users. It will provide the legal framework to empower SYC to adopt new IT systems and digital processes, which will improve case management and communication with litigants and their lawyers.

Beyond digitalisation, this Bill also seeks to improve legal processes, and address past provisions that have inadvertently caused hardship to litigants

1. Clause 11 seeks to amend Section 50 of AMLA, which governs divorce proceedings conducted by hakam.

   1. The role of a set of hakam is to guide a Muslim couple towards reconciliation, and if it that is not possible, towards an amicable parting.

   2. Currently, the parties appoint a set of hakam to support them through this process, and the hakam derive their authority from the parties. 

   3. If one of the parties decides to hold up the process by not giving the hakam the authority to resolve the marital dispute, the SYC can step in to appoint a second set of hakam.

2. This can prolong the grief of parties, as this requires parties to go through the entire process again with the SYC-appointed hakam.

3. We are thus proposing to amend the law so that the SYC can work directly with the first set of hakam to authorise the hakam to pronounce the divorce even if the husband refuses to authorise the hakam if it is in the interest of both parties to do so.

Clauses 8, 9 and 10 work together to remove the payment of fees as a condition for the registration of a divorce, to prevent abuse by parties who disagree with the SYC’s decision. This is so that no party can delay registration of a divorce already recognised by the Court under Muslim law through the non-payment of fees. 

Strengthening Muis’ administrative powers

AMLA confers Muis with administrative powers to administer key functions of Muslim religious life in Singapore. These include the administration of mosques, halal certification and Muslim religious education. The next set of amendments I would like to highlight seek to update Muis’ administrative powers, so that they reflect current realities.

1. For example, Clause 17 updates archaic terms such as jawantankuasa daerah and replace them with the more relevant term, jawantankuasa masjid, while

2. Clauses 18 and 19 update AMLA to enable Muis’ exercise of powers to collect fees for the exercise of statutory functions relating to halal certification and the administration of the Asatizah Recognition Scheme. 

Extending parity of treatment to Muslim families

The last group of amendments I would like to draw the House’s attention to are Clauses 4, 5 and 6.

1. These amendments allow Muslim families undergoing divorce to benefit from the evidence-based measures for therapeutic justice that this House agreed to last month with the Women’s Charter (Amendment) Act.

   1. These are the provisions that allow the SYC to advise parents to secure the child’s attendance at the Programme for Children during the divorce journey, if the SYC thinks that it would be beneficial, just as the Family Justice Courts now can. The aim of these provisions, as my colleague Minister of State Sun Xueling explained to the House last month, is to make sure that the best interests of the child are prioritised during the divorce process. This must be our objective for children of all marriages, whether civil or Muslim.

2. The amendments do not change the fact that Muslim law will continue to apply to Muslim marriages and divorces.

Conclusion

Mr Deputy Speaker, in conclusion, this Bill seeks to ensure that AMLA continues to reflect the needs of the Muslim community and enable our Muslim institutions to better serve our Muslim community. 

Mr Deputy Speaker, I beg to move.