Widow finds photos of husband's secret second marriage

Ten days after her 61-year-old husband died of a cardiac arrest at the end of 2023, a widow discovered her husband had a second wife he married in secret.

The 55-year-old woman was shocked as she had not suspected anything right up to the day he died.

"We had good times and bad, just like other couples," the widow told Berita Harian, sharing her experience after reading a report on Singaporeans getting married overseas and not registering with the Registry of Muslim Marriages (ROMM).

She and the deceased were married for about 30 years and they have three children.

The widow was going through her late husband's possessions when she came across photos of the solemnisation and a marriage certificate from Batam on his computer.

She and the other woman know each other as the latter teaches the couple's three children Quran reading.

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"It felt as if someone stabbed me in the back, I was heartbroken," said the widow.

"I went through his passport but there was no stamp matching the date on their marriage certificate. Later I found out the solemnisation was conducted over a video call."

The widow tried to contact the other woman but to no avail.

When she asked if she had to split her late husband's CPF monies with the "second wife", ROMM registrar Pasuni Maulan explained that the other woman has no rights to the deceased's assets as the solemnisation did not meet the requirements of the syariah law and the marriage was not registered with the authorities.

The emotional stress from discovering her late husband's secrets caused the widow's blood pressure to spike. When she went for a health check, it was also discovered that she had Stage 3 breast cancer.

"The secrets I have unearthed really hurt me," said the widow, who has undergone cancer treatment.

"My husband took his secrets to the grave. I have so many questions. Why did this happen to me? Where did I go wrong?"