As a follow up to this post :
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...threadid=19215
A row over a Malaysian court ruling that Muslim men can divorce their wives with text messages has outraged women's groups and puzzled the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says he does not like the idea of divorce by the popular short messaging system (SMS).
"Nowadays we can even divorce our wife by sending messages," he said while launching Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson's $21 million regional expertise hub in Malaysia's special Multimedia Super Corridor development zone.
"I am not so keen on that but they say it is perfectly legal, perfectly Islamic.
"I think that if people want to divorce their wife, they should resort to a much more personal approach than that," he said.
"We hope of course that instead of sending messages, you should look at the beautiful wife that you're going to divorce ... maybe she would cry a bit and you would change your mind."
Women's groups have had stronger words for the decision by an Islamic Sharia court last week that a man's pronouncement of divorce via SMS was valid.
Women's Aid Organisation director Ivy Josiah said the method was "distant, cowardly, undignified and rude".
A Muslim man can end his marriage by telling his wife "I divorce you" three times.
Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has directed the Islamic Advancement Department to verify the method of SMS divorce.
"I can understand why the women are very worried," he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.
"There's possibility of being duped through SMS.
"There may be fraud because a short service message can be sent by anyone.
"[We] don't face [them] so we don't know, so the doubt arises. It's alright with a letter because there's a signature."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s913265.htm