By Norrasyidah Arshad
SHAH ALAM, April 12 — The move by the authorities to block the bank accounts of men who are reluctant to provide alimony is able to prevent women and children from being mistreated.
Petaling District Islamic Department general affairs officer Suhaimi Ahmad Wakid said enforcing the order is very reasonable so as to ensure the welfare of former spouses and their children are taken care of.
“If the (former) husband fails to fulfill the court order, it makes sense to block their accounts, especially individuals with a steady income.
“However if the former husband has no steady income, earns a daily wage, has no account, it becomes difficult to carry out as it requires a documentation process,” he said.
Suhaimi was speaking during the talk show programme ‘Culas Nafkah: Apa Hak Wanita‘ which was broadcasted on SelangorTV’s YouTube channel and Media Selangor’s Facebook page earlier today.
Starting in November last year, the Malaysian Syariah Judiciary Department (JKSM) began enforcing the blocking of bank accounts of errant husbands or former husbands who shirk from paying their alimonies.
The move is in line with the amendment to Schedule 11 of the Financial Services Act 2013, Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 and the Development Financial Institutions Act 2002, which was approved and gazetted on February 10, 2021.
The amendment to the fifth paragraph of the schedule includes information compliance and disclosure hiwalah, which is the transfer of debt from a judgment to a financial institution to a creditor.
In addition, paragraph six of the same schedule concerns the disclosure of the account holder’s information in financial institutions through court orders, no less than the Sessions Court is also extended to orders issued by the Syariah Subordinate Court, the Syariah High Court and the Syariah Court of Appeal.
Following the amendment, a hiwalah order issued at any level of the Syariah Court can be executed by a financial institution based on the provisions of the law in force.
