Uthman in Polygyny is 'halal' , says less than one percent of Muslim men practise polygyny, that it is 'halal', and that "attacking polygyny and challenging its usefulness and validity is insulting to the teachings of Islam." Presumably by this he means insulting to Muslim men.

Earlier, Anonymous Academician in Polygamy better than illicit affairs said it's better for a man to have a second wife and legitimate children than keep a mistress and have illegitimate children. So, presumably, the writer is unconcerned with the social and other consequences of polygamy as presumably he'd be of adultery.

Last week Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad told the media that the less said about polygamy the better. On Wednesday he said that by standardising Islamic family law across all states it, ipso facto , standardises "conditions...for those who want to practise polygamy".

Maybe I'm missing something here, but all these claims seem to be whitewashing more serious issues by condoning polygamy.

It's not just of polygamy in itself (and how is polygamy different to bigamy or adultery?). Clearly polygamy, like bigamy (which I suspect is a criminal offence in most countries) and adultery, raises critical questions of morality, and in that context, also of social responsibility and of fairness.

Not fairness merely in terms of settling divorce and custody issues, as the standardisation of Islamic family law attempts to impose, but of the social and psychological damage caused to Muslim women and their children who are made to suffer by their polygamous Muslim husbands, whose pursuit of carnal knowledge, in turn, is protected and justified by their religion.

By standardising Islamic family law, the Malaysian state is simply licensing polygamy among Muslim men. How much more preposterous can it get?

Maybe these people  who do not want to be subjected to pain by their polygamous husbands; who do not want their children to suffer at the hands of unfaithful and untrustworthy fathers; and who should not have to accept a precept of Islam that does not reflect modern day realities.

If Mahathir can say that the world hasn't learned to cope with change and better manage the world, that resorting to disproportionate power only likens the so-called modern nuclear age world to stone age thinking, he should also be saying that an Islamic religion that sanctions polygamy in the 21st century is an unacceptable throwback to stone age thinking and morality.

Uthman says since only one percent of Muslim men engage in polygny thus it's not an issue. That's still one percent too many. It's the same argument one would make of young Malays who feed their drug addiction by whatever means possible, including criminal activity. So why should the argument against polygyny be different?

Anonymous Academician says polygyny is preferable to having illicit (adulterous) sexual relations which could bear illegitimate children. But preferable to whom? To Muslim women? To all women? Because that writer's argument supports these ghastly men.

And what happens when polygamous and adulterous relations turn violent on women and children; who bears the brunt of this violence? The men who perpetrate the violence? What does Mahathir now say of growing moral decadence in Malaysia, especially when it is common knowledge that some political elites, senior bureaucrats and many successful businessmen keep one or more mistresses? Or of those Malaysian men who travel to places like Haadyai or Golok in Thailand in search of sexual adventures.

It's time the Malaysian government woke up and got serious with noting the plight of Malaysian women and seriously addressed issues of women's status, including those of Muslim women and polygyny. This is more than just an Islamic issue. Unchecked, these problems will spiral into a disease with huge social costs to the fabric of Muslim community, to Malaysian 'society' (if one exists), and to the economy.

For too long women in Malaysia have not had a collective political voice. It's time for change. Time for all women in Malaysia to speak up and in one voice. Because polygyny in Islam is adultery ex-Islam, and both are painfully insulting to all women and their children. No woman, of any race, with half a wit, ought to put up with an adulterous partner, regardless of his religion.

Muslim women did not ask to be punished by Islamic scriptures that condone the lascivious behaviour among selfish Muslim men. Like men, they too are human beings. They shouldn't be made to feel inferior and utterly submissive on the basis of their social status to Islamic precepts or to government's decree of polygamy.