Wives of MH370 victims can get sustenance from husbands' assets

The wives of Muslim victims of the Malaysia Airlines' (MAS) flight MH370 can receive sustenance from assets of the victims to pay for their living cost, said the director-general of the Malaysian Syariah Judicial Department (JKSM) Tan Sri Ibrahim Lembut. Ibrahim, who is also the Syariah chief justice, said as such the wives need not wait for up to four years to seek confirmation from the court on the status of their marriage and to claim for common property. "The wives can get sustenance from the assets left by their husbands according to normal custom, that is normal expenses to continue their daily routine but cannot take the money as they like," he said. He said this to the media after receiving a courtesy call from the Justice Minister of the Republic of Gambia, Mama Fatimah Singhateh, here today. Earlier, it was reported that the matrimonial status of Muslim victims of the flight MH370 was still not dissolved and any claim on their assets could not be made although the government had declared that all passengers of the ill-fated aircraft had died. Ibrahim said that in this regard, the Syariah and Civil laws must be referred together, that is, four years set for determining the matrimonial status and seven years for claiming property under the civil law. "The four-year period is fixed to look after the victim's benefit in case he (victim) is still alive and returns, but Islam makes it simple if the wife remarries, she can go to the court to ask for 'taklik' or automatic divorce and, if necessary, claim for common property," he explained. He said that the matrimonial status would be dissolved if evidence was found such as debris from the aircraft. Meanwhile, inheritors could also refer to or apply from the syariah court to claim for part of the assets left by the victims of the flight MH370 and obtain the remaining portion after the period set by the law. On Jan 29, the director-general of the Department of Civil Aviation, Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman announced that the flight MH370 was officially declared as having met an accident and under international aviation regulation, all the 239 passengers and crew of the aircraft were considered dead. The Boeing 777 aircraft disappeared from radar screens en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, about one hour after taking off from the KL International Airport at 12.41am, on March 8 last year.