By Ameena Siddiqi
When Seputeh MP Teresa Kok stood in Parliament to call for a federal child support agency, I couldn’t help thinking – how many more years will mothers have to hold things together on their own before the country finally treats their struggles as urgent?
Mothers have already done everything asked of them. They go to court. They file the paperwork. They chase signatures, keep every receipt, and attend every hearing. They wait months, sometimes years, for orders that are supposed to make things better. Yet enforcement is often too slow or too weak to change their day-to-day reality.
Just ask Mizah Salleh. In August 2025, her story went viral after she revealed on social media that her ex-husband had failed to pay RM70,750 in child maintenance since November 2020. That figure – RM1,350 a month in arrears doesn’t even include the extra costs every parent knows come with school preparation, medical needs or Hari Raya.
“I sacrificed everything,” she wrote, “but this suffering shouldn’t fall on one mother alone.” Thousands of women responded, not with surprise, but with recognition.
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Her case is far from unique. According to the 2020 census, there are over 900,000 single mothers in Malaysia, about 8.3% of all households. Only 18% are registered with the Women’s Development Department (JPW), leaving most invisible in official systems.
Almost 90% of working single mothers are in the bottom 40% of earners, and more than half live below the poverty line despite having jobs.
For Muslim mothers, the disappointment carries a moral weight too. Islam is clear: a father’s duty to provide does not end with divorce. It must be done bi’l-maʿrūf – adequately, fairly, without harm. Yet too often, maintenance is treated as optional.
This is not just lived experience – it’s documented. SIS Forum (Malaysia), through its legal service Telenisa, found in its 2023 Statistics & Findings, that 42% of all legal aid consultations were about child maintenance.
Nearly half of those cases involved fathers who refused to pay outright. A quarter cited unemployment. Some openly defied court orders, knowing enforcement was weak. In its Hak Kewangan (Financial Rights) study, SIS documented maintenance orders as low as RM150 for two school-going children – sums far below actual costs.
This isn’t a new fight. SIS has been calling for a federal Child Support Agency since 2005, urging for a system that could assess realistic payment amounts, trace absent parents, deduct from wages, seize assets, and suspend passports or licences for persistent defaulters.
This can work, but it needs political will.
In Australia, compliance rose from 25% under court orders to over 70% under a child support agency, with 90% of arrears collected.
In the UK, Department for Work and Pensions/IFF Research found most separated families established new arrangements within months of their old cases closing. Those backed by strong enforcement lasted longer. The difference wasn’t that mothers tried harder – they already were. The system finally did its part.
A Malaysian child support agency could be tailored to our reality:
- One national standard so Sharia and civil orders are enforced equally across states
- Automatic deductions from salaries or bank accounts, without waiting for non-payment first
- Realistic assessments based on current cost-of-living data
- A humane approach for genuine hardship, ensuring children are supported even when payers are struggling.
None of this is abstract.
It’s the difference between a child eating lunch in the canteen every day and one who quietly skips meals.
It’s about replacing the anxiety of chasing payments with the certainty of knowing they will arrive.
It’s about ending the years of uncertainty, repeated court visits, and the weary knowledge that too many mothers are left to shoulder the cost of raising children alone.
So what more must mothers do before this becomes a national priority? Must we speak publicly about the private pain of juggling bills and court dates? Must we wait until another generation of children grow up without the care they deserve?
Or is it enough that for decades, women and groups like SIS have been documenting, advocating for and proposing solutions, only to see the burden remain largely on mothers’ shoulders?
Kok’s proposal felt like someone in power had finally heard what mothers, advocates and researchers have been saying for years: that child maintenance should be a guaranteed right, not a gamble. It’s time for Malaysia to stop waiting for mothers to prove, yet again, that the need is real.
Ameena Siddiqi is the communications manager at SIS Forum (Malaysia). With a strong background in publishing, media and communications, she plays a pivotal role in advancing SIS’s mission to promote women’s rights within the Islamic framework in Malaysia. Her work focuses on amplifying voices, fostering dialogue and advocating for meaningful change.
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
