Terengganu to ease polygamy rules

This is one of those stories that, we Malaysians who live overseas, cringe at every time we come across it.

Are there not more important things for the state government of Trengganu to worry about than the fact that there are single mothers and unwed women without a man in their lives?

The dirty little secret is the rise in the rate of divorced women is partly caused by the Islamic law that allows man to take on a second wife! Many women do not want to share their husbands with another woman and prefer to be divorced instead.

What do you bet that the married man take on a woman who has never been married as his second wife? How many men when taking on a second wife think that he is doing his civic duty, that is, he is helping to reduce the number of single mothers and unmarried women? How many married man would marry a divorced or widowed woman already with children? Not very many, I am sure. I bet lust and a new "model" is what is in most men's minds.

BY R.S.N. MURALI

KUALA TERENGGANU: The Terengganu state government intends to relax its rules on polygamy to make it easier for men to have more than one wife, citing the high number of single mothers and unwed lasses.

Those who now intend to take a new wife are no longer required to seek the green light from their current spouses.

State Islam Hadhari and Welfare committee chairman Abdullah Che Muda told The Starthat this would give opportunities for single ladies in the state to have their own families.

"However, those who want to take up new wives should adhere to certain rules and conform to criteria set by the Religious Department," he said when contacted here.

Abdullah said that a man keen to marry again should be mentally and financially stable, have indepth knowledge of Islam and must be able to treat all his wives fairly, including his first one.

"Only after a rigid evaluation would a man be allowed to take another wife," he said.

Abdullah said the state now has large number of single mothers who are either widowed or divorced. The number of women who have lost their husbands has also soared.

There are currently close to 18,000 single mothers in the state and clubs have been set up at the district level to oversee their welfare.