‘No child left behind’: SIS Forum to draft law, push new agency to make ex-husbands pay their dues

ARA DAMANSARA, June 18 — Advocacy group SIS Forum (Malaysia) said it plans to draft its own proposed Bill to ensure all Malaysians pay the financial support owed to their spouse, former spouse and children, amid statistics on a persistent problem of men failing to pay up when marriages break down.

SIS Forum also wants the Malaysian government to set up a new government agency to help all Malaysians get the financial support that should be paid by their former spouse, saying that this proposed agency should help both Muslims and non-Muslims.

SIS Forum executive director Rozana Isa said the non-governmental organisation is planning to also come up with cost estimates when it prepares a draft of the suggested new law for the government.

“We also need to start drafting a Bill. We can’t wait for the ministry to draft the Bill. The lesson we have learnt is we need to draft the Bill ourselves.

“This will be quite a lot of work that we will have to undertake. Because one of the things that is always questioned when you propose a Bill to be tabled is the issue of cost. We have to put in the estimated cost.

“We can no longer just expect to put in a Bill without having a number. Because then nobody is going to take the initiative, so we have to figure out the numbers for that as well. It’s quite a big task which we are quite excited about.

“If we can get this off the ground, I think it will create a change and stem further injustice to our children who will also become parents, wives and mothers themselves down the road,” she said today at the launch of SIS Forum’s 10-year report of its free legal advice service Telenisa’s statistics and findings.

As part of SIS Forum’s long-term plan with a timeline of three years or more, the new federal law it wants pushed for drafting is the Spousal and Child Maintenance Agency Bill to strengthen the enforcement of the rights of “both Muslim and non-Muslim women” to maintenance or financial support from men.

For this proposed new law, SIS Forum said the relevant stakeholders would be the Legal Affairs Division (BHEUU) in the Prime Minister’s Department, the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim), Syariah courts and the Attorney General’s Chambers’ drafting division.

How big is the unpaid child support problem? (At least 4,800)

Rozana today unveiled Telenisa’s 10-year data based on the 4,761 individuals, about 90 per cent of whom are women, who had asked for help and legal information, with a total of 2,110 cases related to children.

During the 2016 to 2025 period, almost half of those 2,110 cases were about Muslim men’s financial support for children: 633 cases of unpaid child maintenance, and 367 cases involving child maintenance.

So that is 1,000 cases in total.

“Therefore it can be concluded that divorce has a significant impact on child maintenance, particularly involving arrears and child maintenance, which together total 1,000 cases (47.4 per cent). This shows that nearly half of child-related issues are closely linked to financial responsibilities towards children after family breakdown,” the Telenisa 10-year report said.

Rozana also cited the Malaysian government’s December 4, 2025 written parliamentary reply to Bangi MP Syahredzan, where the Department of Syariah Judiciary Malaysia’s (JKSM) Family Support Division (BSK) recorded 4,886 cases of Muslims breaching court orders to pay child maintenance during a five-year period from 2020 to 2024.

Rozana acknowledged that JKSM’s BSK does try to help address cases of Muslim women and children who face unpaid maintenance issues, but said it might need more resources than it currently has.

Proposed solution: A new govt agency to resolve child maintenance for all Malaysians

“One of the reasons why SIS is calling for establishment of a federal Child Support Agency, so that no children would be left in these kind of situations anymore,” Rozana said.

Rozana said SIS Forum is not just asking for Muslim children to be able to get child maintenance, but wants this agency to also help ensure non-Muslim children do not face problems of unpaid child support.

SIS Forum is proposing that the Malaysian government set up this special national-level agency to also cover issues of spouse maintenance.

“This agency will manage and monitor maintenance payments, including an automatic salary deduction system, access to a maintenance order database, and legal action against non-compliance,” it said in its proposal.

The relevant stakeholders for this proposal will be the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development; Jakim; the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam); the civil courts and Syariah courts, SIS Forum said.