MALAYSIA: ALTHOUGH he earned RM10,000 ($4,200) a month, this man gets only RM20 every day.

The reason? His wife controls his finances and gives him that amount as his daily allowance.

And the wife has gone further than that - she had an affair with another man.

Yet, the husband, who is in his late 30s, puts up with her in the name of love.

The Perlis branch of a woman's welfare department told Harian Metro that this was among the more unusual cases of marital problems it was handling.

The father of three children said he was willing to put up with his wife's bullying because he loved her and his children too much to wreck the marriage.

An official with the department, MrAffendi Rajini Khan, said that the man had approached the department to get counselling to cope with his problems.

Said Mr Affendi: 'The man told us that his wife has recently become worse, that she got upset at him for ticking her off. They started quarrelling.

'She became abusive and took a lid of a wok and threw it at him, hitting him in the forehead, leaving a scar.'

Mr Affendi said the man also told him that his wife was having an affair but did not want to take any action against her because he said he loved her.

Said the officer: 'His reason for the inaction was that he said he loves his three children so much that he's willing to take whatever she does to him.

Confronted wife

But after receiving some advice and counselling from the department, Mr Affendi said the man built up his confidence to deal with his wife and confront her about the alleged adultery.

But Mr Affendi said his department was shocked when the man returned to tell them that the wife blamed him for her adultery.

He said: 'We are aware that it was his soft ways, that he said he loved his wife too much and feared of confronting the wife that led to his wife being bold enough to abuse his respect and trust.'

Mr Affendi said his department receives many complaints each month and the staff try their best to offer advice and counselling to affected parties.

Other than marital issues, the department also tackles health issues such as Aids and connect those who need help with the relevant authorities and NGOs.

This article was first published in The New Paper on Jan 24, 2009.