I strongly applaud the astuteness of the Singapore courts in judiciously determining that shared care and control may not always be in the best interests of a child in divorce cases.

Also, that the welfare of the child should always take precedence in adjudicating such matters that will continue to affect the child long after the ruling is made (Child's welfare must come first: High Court; Aug 14).

Their reasoning is clear: Having a child continually shuttle between two households is highly unsettling and disruptive to his day-to-day life, and is hardly in his best interests.

This is further exacerbated in cases where parents persist in conflicts over parenting styles and other matters.

Further beyond the issue of care and control is the issue of custody.

Parents who are out to control their former spouse via the child will often be deliberately uncooperative in joint decisions.

This is often to make things difficult for the other parent, and the one who suffers the most in such tugs-of-war over education, medical and other critical decisions is indisputably the child.

May the acumen of the Singapore courts - which honourably defies the adherence to a 50-50 statistical uniformity for the mere sake of appearing politically correct - also extend to the issue of custody.

Lily Ong (Madam)