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PATRONS who attended the fund-raising movie premiere of Berbagi Suami (Love for Share) in Kuala Lumpur last Thursday evening must have emerged from the theater very enlightened on the subject of polygamy.

Well, this is what the organisers, Sisters In Islam, would have wanted and they have certainly achieved their target.

It was indeed a fitting movie - a story about a polygamous relationship - to help raise funds for a project study on polygamy.

Berbagi Suami , an Indonesian movie directed by Nia Dinata ( right ), is about three women from different social and ethnic backgrounds who had to share a husband's love and attention with several other women.

The movie tells of their pains, agonies and internal conflicts. Coincidently the three women later met each other without realizing that they shared a similar story.

Main characters of Berbagi Suami are Jajang C Noer ( below ) who played Salma, Shanty who was cast as Siti and Dominique A Diyose in the leading role of Ming.

Director-cum-writer Nia Dinata is a well-known Indonesian film director noted for her courage to tackle sensitive issues such as polygamy in Indonesia, a nation with the largest Muslim population in the world.

She graduated with a mass communication major at Elizabeth Town in Pennsylvania and later took special programmes on film production at New York University.

Strong relation

SIS executive director Zainah Anwar told patrons at the premiere that Berbagi Suami was chosen because it was strongly related to a SIS project study on examining polygamous marriages in Malaysia.

"The findings will be used for public education, legal advocacy and policy reform initiatives," she said, adding that SIS will be collaborating with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia on the study.

The research project, titled 'Impact of polygamy on the family institution in Malaysia', is expected to take two years.

This ground-breaking national survey will interview first wives, second/subsequent wives, husbands and children of polygamous marriages on the emotional, social and financial impact of polygamy on family life.

Zainah also extended SIS appreciation and thanks to generous sponsors and donors who had contributed more than RM182,000 to the project.

Meanwhile, Yasmin Ahmad, a well-known local film director commented that Berbagi Suami is one of Asia's best productions because the movie had successfully portrayed the real situation of polygamy in Indonesia.

"Most importantly, it reflected the true feelings of women involved in a polygamous marriage," she said when met at the function.

The characters, Yasmin added, were well carried by the actors and actresses and this enables a better perspective and understanding of the subject by the audience.

Among the VIPs present at the premiere were Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Dr Rais Yatim and wife, Masnah Mahmud and PM's daughter Nori Abdullah and her husband, Khairy Jamaluddin.

Berbagi Suami will be shown in cinemas nationwide on Jan 11.

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