Muslim's Doubts About Monogamy

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30191, 24 July 1963, Page 15

Muslim's Doubts About Monogamy

(N Z. PA -Reuter—Copyright) KUALA LUMPUR, July 23. Controversy over polygamy has once again arisen in Malaya.

Yesterday a State Assemblyman from Johore said he had grave doubts about a “one man, one wife” rule for Malaya. Under Muslim law Malays are free to take as many as four wives, but in recent years women’s organisations have moved to check this.

The Assemblyman, Patah Syed Mohammed Idrus, predicted a “one man, one wife” law would lead to more prostitution and immorality.

Census figures showed there were 20,000 more women than men in Malaya “Whait would happen to all these women?" Syed Mohammed asked.

The Assemblyman has two wives and six children.

Today, a woman Senator of Malaya’s governing Alliance Party, Che Aishah Ghani, charged Syed Mohammed Idrus with “trying to make excuses for preserving the existing marriage and divorce laws, which are unfair and unjust to Muslim women." “What we really wanit is marriage and divorce laws based on the real precepts of Islam. “A man taking a second

wife must have good reasons for doing so. “He must also show tha>: he is capable of supporting and being fair to both his wives,” she said.