Finally, something useful from Parliament

Let's give credit where credit is due, even though this measure is long overdue.

The amendments to the Women's Charter, to give the Family Court more teeth, include requiring defaulters to place funds in a bank to guarantee against future defaults and imposing community-based sentences.

Currently, the court can impose fines, order a third-party to transfer the maintenance to the claimant and set jail terms. But as family and criminal lawyer Rudy Marican notes, the court rarely sends a defaulter to jail as it stops him from working and, hence, paying the maintenance.

Dr Balakrishnan said defaulters will have to declare their maintenance debts when registering a second or subsequent marriage.

Claimants can also report maintenance debts to credit bureaus to reflect the credit standing of a defaulter, and obtain the latter's employment information from the CPF Board to contact the employer for maintenance from his salary.

Giving more power to the Family Court to enforce this is a good idea, as I do not believe any ministry can enforce this effectively, nor is it good policy to allow the executive to enforce what is a judicial issue. If there are enough manpower and infrastructure invested in this, and it looks like there will be, this is good policy.