Nik Aziz Nik Mat, the PAS spiritual leader, was quoted as saying Islamic spiritual leaders should practice polygamy to be better able to counsel their flocks about the practice, which he called suitable to "the era of information and communications technology".

It is not. It is suited to the Middle Ages. Statistics show that polygamous marriages, like twisters, leave a trail of destruction in the form of neglected women and dysfunctional children in their wake.

Polygamy has been much in the Malaysian news. The New York Times , in an article about a polygamous family , painted a relatively benign picture of a husband with four wives - a physician, a divorce lawyer and two teachers - and nine children living in apparent harmony in uala Lumpur.

Other media have given considerable attention to The Ikhwan Polygamy Club, which says it has 1,000 members across Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, the Middle East and Europe.

It is questionable, however, how much harmony there is in most polygamous marriages...