Malaysia govt holds special classes to save failing marriages

The Malaysian government has started conducting special classes to rekindle romance in stale marriages in a bid to reduce the growing number of divorce cases in the multi-ethnic Muslim-majority country.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Karimtold Parliament thatthe programme was aimed at helping married couples to go on dates and spend more time with one another.
"After so many years of marriage, the couples have forgotten to go dating just between the two of them. It is something really basic that we are teaching and maybe they can go for a honeymoon. Don't go on dates with another person, go with your husband or wife," she said.

Sharing the programme's experience, she said that many couples have forgotten the personal traits of their partners.
"When we put them on a quiz, the husband no longer knows the wife's favourite colour. And similarly the wife could not tell the favourite food of her husband," she said.
She also revealed that a quarter of marriages in the country ended in divorce after the first five years.
"We look at this very seriously and in 2012 there was one divorce in 1,000 people. The top reason why women filed for divorce was due to misunderstanding and irresponsible spouses while the men also cited misunderstanding as one of the reasons to file for divorce," she was quoted by the Malaysian Star as saying.