KUALA LUMPUR - A rebellion is stirring in Malaysia over new legislation which critics say undermines the rights of Muslim women by making it easier for men to take multiple wives and claim property after divorce.The government was forced to strike down opposition in the usually tame upper house Senate to push through the bill last week, only to face an avalanche of protest from civil society groups and ordinary citizens.
Letters pages in the usually tightly-controlled media have also been full of complaints over the âIslamic Family Lawâ bill which affects Malaysiaâs Muslims, who make up about 60 percent of the population of 26 million people. âNow I learn that if my husband were to marry another, he has the right to my property to support his new lifestyle!â wrote one outraged reader of the New Straits Times.
âAnother provision makes it easier for men to obtain divorce ... it is hard to imagine how much easier it can be, given the current situation where men can divorce their wives for no reason and even via SMS,â said another.
| Sucks to live in an Islamic paradise, huh. |
âThey are giving more rights to the men whilst taking back the traditional Muslim womenâs rights,â said Razlina Razali from Sisters in Islam, one of several activist groups in an alliance demanding that the bill be abandoned. âItâs not justified under Islam because Islam promotes the principle of equality and justice, and traditionally it guards the rights of Muslim women,â she said.
| Have you read the part about the expanded provisions for stoning uppity women? |
Zaidah Abdul Rahman, a 44-year-old mother of three, lived in the capital Kuala Lumpur for much of her two-decade marriage, but in 2004 her husband divorced her in their one-time home state of Johor Baru where the act is in force. Soon she found her personal bank account and that of her oldest daughter frozen, and she was forced to sell her jewellery so she could pay the bills.
After giving up her career as a real estate agent because her husband wanted her to stay at home with their children, and years of being a dutiful corporate wife with many relocations, she is furious at being left with nothing. Once well-off, her home is now in disrepair and she has been forced to take out a court order to prevent her husband from seizing her Volvo. âIâm totally upset and fiercely opposed to the amendments which are against Islamic law, which forbids harshness against women,â she told AFP.
âThis is against Malaysiaâs image which is known worldwide as a modern Islamic country.â
| Modern? In whose eyes? |
Razlina said that even though women can argue to retain their assets in the courts, they are unlikely to get a fair hearing in a system skewed towards men. âWe are still living in a patriarchal society,â she said. âMen can access justice easily. But for women, even though it is expressed in the act, it is very, very hard for them to get it.â
The unusually strong protest over the bill has also been fuelled by the way it was forced through the upper house, triggering a tearful protest from women senators who denounced it as âsinfulâ.
Womenâs groups are planning petitions, letter-writing campaigns and other strategies to put pressure on the government, which rarely faces such open opposition. Women, Family and Community Minister Shahrizat Jalil has upped her rhetoric, saying she will petition the nine Sultans who are the religious heads in their states, to appeal for the bill to be substantially amended.
Shahrizat said Malaysian women were slighted by the law and that their rights needed to be protected by correcting discriminatory clauses.
Activists however have dismissed the governmentâs promises to amend the more contentious points as a hollow gesture designed to cool the angry public mood. âHow long will it take to amend? Fifteen years? And how many women will suffered under it by then?â asked Razlina.
| The point is, the men don't care. |