I would like to highlight a point to the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (National Registration Department). My friend who got married recently told me how upset she was with her experience at JPN. She was previously married, and had her marriage annulled. ( perkahwinan dibatalkan ).

An annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is retroactive - an annulled marriage is considered never to have existed.

This means that the record of her previous marriage should have been deleted. However, when she re-married and registered her civil marriage at JPN, the officers insisted that she fill in the form as a janda ( divorcee).

This defeats the entire purpose of getting an annulment! If this is the case, then why have an annulment in the first place? Would it not be the same as a divorce?

The worst part is that her marriage certificate now bears the mark/stamp of ‘ pernah berkahwin ’. It is silly for one to be reminded of an old marriage in one's present marriage certificate! It brings a lot of trauma to the person. My friend is traumatised and feels bad over the record in her marriage certificate.

If the record needs to be there, then it should suffice to have the records in JPN's database and NOT on the marriage certificate.

What is the purpose of blatantly printing a person's previous marital status on the present marriage certificate? It is pointless and seems to punish the person by stamping that person with a label for the rest of his/her life.

I hope JPN can explain.