By David Tan – Friday 1/2/2024
KUALA LUMPUR: “When are you getting Married?” The question that is popular among aunties during Chinese New Year. Yet, many Malaysians are not getting married but leaving their marriages.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) raises concern on the increase of divorces and decrease in marriages. Datuk Seri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin, the Chief Statistician, mentioned that marriages in the country’s population recorded a decrease of 0.5 per cent in 2022 compared to its previous year.
Following the statement, our team at Equal Lens conducted several interviews with the public to understand the trend.
Figure 1 on Why People are Getting Married Lesser
“Marriage is life-time companionship as we are labelled as social animals,” said Dr Santhidran, who is married for 20 years.
His family pressured him to get married, but he couldn’t as he was pursuing his master’s and could not afford to get married.
“When I see my friends who are not as highly educated as me having a happy married life, I decided not postpone my marriage,” expressed the University of Southern California Graduate.
“Nowadays we have placed money and materials as a benchmark to value happiness.” He added.
Figure 2 Medina on Why People are Getting Married Lesser
Mother of four, Medina shares that not everyone has good experience in relationship. Bad experiences stop a person from considering marriage.
“A person may see someone else’s experience in a marriage and does not want the same to happen to themselves,” she said.
Reason to divorce.
Not only has marriage decreased, but divorce has also increased 43.1 per cent in 2022 compared to the previous year.
Figure 3 Catherine Chiew on Why People are Leaving their Marriage
“People don’t understand each other well enough before marrying and financial issues,” said Catherine Chiew, 21, when asked why people are leaving their marriage.
She was mostly raised by her dad after her parents split.
Figure 4 Jarrod Ng on Why People Are Leaving Their Marriage
Jarrod Ng, 21, who also has divorced parents, believes that people stop believing marriage is important in life.
“People nowadays see more importance in career and success and marrying someone is a big decision in life” he added.
He further mentions that commitments are hard to give at this day of age.
Figure 5 Joshua Yap on Why People Are Leaving Their Marriage
“My parents decided to split due to financial difficulties,” said Joshua Yap.
Yap also believes that financial stability is important as commitment to pay for loans are not easy.
He believes rise of media helped greatly to expose unfaithful act.
Divorce rates has seen a great jump when Covid-19 occurred. Many couples are forced indoor with their significant other for a long period of time. This has also resulted in many abuse cases.
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