KUCHING: The National Registration Department (NRD) has no jurisdiction over marriages registered under native customary law.
The department clarified in a statement released yesterday, marriages and divorces registered under native customary law were under the purview of Sarawak Native Customs Council (Majlis Adat Istiadat Sarawak or MAIS).
As such, Iban couples residing in Peninsular Malaysia facing the problem of legality of their marriage certificates when dealing with government agencies and department have to referred to MAIS“Iban couples facing problems with government agencies and departments in Peninsular Malaysia pertaining to the
legality of their marriage certificates should seek the assistance of MAIS,” said the statement.
NRD stated it was only responsible for marriages registered under Section 3(4) of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 (Act 164).
The statement added that the Act was not applicable to natives of Sabah and Sarawak or aborigines of PeninsularMalaysia whose marriages and divorces were governed by native customary laws or aboriginal custom unless the native individual chose to marry under the Act; or he contracted his marriage under the Christian Marriage Ordinance or the individual contracted his marriage under the Church and Civil Marriage Ordinance.
“Therefore, NRD has no jurisdiction to verify an individual’s marriage or the marital status of those who were married under native customs,” said the statement.
NRD was responding to The Borneo Post news report “Treat marriage certs based on Iban customs as legal” dated Aug 21.
The report stated that Iban community leaders in Sibu Division after “Management of Marriage and Divorce According to Iban Customs” Workshop had passed 14 resolutions “including the resolution of asking for the cooperation of NRD to verify
the marriage status of individuals wanting to marry according to Iban customs to ensure that couples wanting to marry have pre-marriage certificate and to display divorce application
letter for a month before it could be registered at the Native Court”.