With reference to the recent debate in Parliament on the Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) (Amendment) Bill 2005, the All Women's Action Society (Awam) is disturbed that the main concern of some MPs appears to be that the proposed amendments will make it harder for Muslim men to practice polygamy.

Ismail Yaakob (BN-Bera) for instance, was reported as saying that the bill's requirement that a man planning to marry a second wife must appear in court with his first wife and his proposed second wife to discuss the distribution of wealth would deter men and might lead to them keeping the potential second wives as mistresses.

Mohd Said Yusof (BN- Jasin), meanwhile warned that couples might elope to Thailand to marry if it is too hard to meet the law's requirements for polygamy.

It is extremely disappointing that rather than debating the issue on the basis of trying to achieve fairness for all parties concerned, these MPs' main priority appear to be to save men from being inconvenienced.

It is surely obvious that laws and policies should be debated on the basis of their merit rather on how convenient or inconvenient they may be for certain people. All laws will be inconvenient for some people - should we therefore have no laws?

Awam hopes that further discussions on the bill in Parliament will focus on the problems which gave rise to the need to come up with amendments to the Islamic Family Law in the first place, such as the problems faced by first wives who are abandoned or mistreated when their husbands take second wives; and how to address loopholes or weaknesses in the law which allow men to flout it, e.g. by going to Thailand to get married if they cannot fulfil the conditions for polygamy here.

The writer is the executive director of the All Women's Action Society (Awam).