KUALA LUMPUR: Entrepreneur Syida Melvin has spoken out over an ongoing housing dispute with her former husband, Mohamad Syafiq Azim Shaheen, claiming she has been prevented from returning to their matrimonial home with their three children.
Speaking in a livestream that has since gone viral on social media, Syida expressed her frustration after allegedly facing difficulties moving back into the residence, despite having spent the past eight months staying with relatives.
She said her primary concern is ensuring stability and uninterrupted schooling for her children.
Syida explained that she and the children left the home in April to protect their mental and physical well-being, alleging that she had endured emotional abuse while living with her former husband.
During that time, she stayed at her family’s home in the village, while her children were unable to attend school as usual and had to rely on private tutors.
“My children and I have been out of the house for eight months. I left to protect my mental and physical health, as well as the children’s,” she said.
“I left because I could no longer bear the emotional abuse, the verbal insults and the humiliation. The children need to go to school, and I have nowhere to stay. I have been staying at my elder sister’s house, and I spent four months in the village. The children’s clothes and toys are scattered between both places.”
Syida also alleged that her former husband had repeatedly insulted her and falsely accused her of things she did not do.
“I kept quiet all this while because I could not stand being insulted and sworn at. He called me poor and claimed he was the richest, saying my parents had no home and had to stay with others.
“He hurt himself and then accused me of doing it. He broke a table at home and blamed it on me. That is why I left,” she claimed.
Following the end of her iddah (waiting period) and the official confirmation of their divorce, Syida said she wanted to return to the house for the sake of the children’s stability and education.
Emphasising that she has never claimed sole ownership of the property, she hopes her former husband will allow them space to live there.
According to Syida, her lawyers have sent several letters to Mohamad Syafiq since August to inform him of her intention to return, but she claims these went unanswered.
Instead, she alleged that he changed all the locks on Aug 21 after learning she planned to move back on Aug 30.
“My lawyer has sent four or five letters, yet he ignores them. He says he wants the matter settled through a court order, even though that process takes six to eight months,” she said.
“The children need to go to school. It is difficult for me to keep staying at other people’s homes. I am not saying the house is 100 per cent mine, just give me and the children some space.”
Syida stressed that she was not sharing her story for attention, but out of desperation over her children’s living arrangements and schooling.
She added that she had even hired a cleaning service to tidy the house, which she claimed was in a dirty state, in preparation for their return.
But she said her former husband’s actions during a livestream earlier that afternoon had only deepened her disappointment.
Syida and Mohamad Syafiq married on Jan 19, 2019, and share three children: Safa Safeera, Sara Sajedda, and Serhan Isa.
Their divorce was confirmed with a talak satu pronouncement at the Shah Alam Syariah Lower Court on Aug 12, following Syida’s divorce filing in December 2025.