Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has urged state governments to gazette the Islamic family law as soon as possible to resolve the allegations of non-uniformity in Islamic laws, including those pertaining to polygyny.

Bernama reported Mahathir as saying that the laws had been accepted by the Rulers Council.

"Thus, what needs to be done is only to gazette the law, and the same law will be applied in all states in the peninsula as well as Sabah and Sarawak.

"The question of standardising them does not arise when we gazette this law."

He hoped that the manifold problems pertaining to Muslim families would be reduced thereafter.

Mahathir was speaking to the press after chairing a special meeting in Putrajaya today to resolve the long-standing controversy on polygyny and Islamic Family Law.

Perlis misunderstood

The controversy resurfaced recently when the Barisan Nasional-led Perlis reportedly proposed to relax conditions for Muslim men to commit polygyny, such as forgoing the approval from the first wife.

However, Mahathir claimed the press had misunderstood the state government's move.

"The Perlis government did not intend to facilitate polygamy, the Perlis government was merely following the teachings of Islam...(polygyny) is allowed but not encouraged.

"There is actually no differences of opinion between the Perlis government and the other state governments," Bernama quoted him as saying.

Mahathir said polygyny must be practised according to conditions set by Islam, by taking into consideration factors such as financial capability, fairness as well as the status of the woman one intended to marry.

Asked whether he considered the polygyny issue to have been resolved, the premier said: "I think it's already resolved. Perlis (government) says it has no intention to make it easier for polygamy but in certain cases it may try.

"It's also the same for the other states, when we have gazetted this law, the conditions (for polygyny) will be the same wherever one goes," he said.

Also present at the meeting this afternoon were Deputy Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, ministers in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim and Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin, Religious Adviser to the premier, Abdul Hamid Othman, Perlis Menteri Besar Shahidan Kassim, Perak Mufti Mat Jahaya Hussin and a representative from the Women and Family Development Ministry.