A shariah lawyer has urged the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) to include records of unpaid child maintenance in its database to improve enforcement.
Nor Liana Ali said reflecting court orders in SSM searches would help reduce delays in enforcement and ensure accountability of company directors.
“For someone to hold the position of company director, they must be prudent, solvent, not blacklisted, and not bankrupt. Why not also include unpaid child maintenance orders?” she asked at the launch of SIS Forum’s (Malaysia) 2024 Telenisa report here.
However, currently, searches through SSM’s system can only be done using company names.
Liana suggested implementing a method where searches could be done by the name of the directors or shareholders, which would also include any sum that they owed.
She suggested that credit rating agencies such as CTOS and CCRIS could also list court orders to increase compliance.
Under current law, children can claim unpaid maintenance, but Liana said gaps in the system made enforcement difficult.
She noted that arrears were not recognised unless an order was in place, meaning that claims made at age 18 without prior orders might be dismissed.
Liana also said paternal grandparents could be ordered to pay maintenance if fathers were unable to, citing a case where an 18-year-old sued both the father and grandfather.
“There are children who are brave enough to enforce their rights, which is encouraging,” she said.
The Telenisa report recorded 30 unpaid child maintenance cases this year, with unemployed fathers making up the largest group (12 cases) of those who did not pay.
Other cases included insufficient payments (10), breaches of court orders (three), failure to provide maintenance (two), two cases with no orders served and one case categorised as “others”.
