Muslim women who do not want their husbands to practise polygamy had a helping hand from Endon Mahmood, wife of Acting Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, when she said today monogamy had kept her marriage happy for four decades.

"Me and Pak Lah have been married for almost 40 years and alhamdulillah (all praise is due to Allah), the relationship between our family members gets closer with each passing day.

"The harmony and happiness in our family was built o­n the principles of equality, understanding of each person's responsibility and role as well as mutual support. A happy marriage is o­ne that cannot be taken for granted...monogamy is the choice for my family," she said.

She was speaking at the launch of a campaign for monogamy organised by the Coalition o­n Women's Rights in Islam this morning. The event was held at Amcorp Mall in Petaling Jaya.

The coalition comprises 12 women's groups such as Sisters in Islam (SIS), All Women's Action Society (Awam), Malaysian Police's Wives and Families Association (Perkep), Women's Aid Organisation (WAO) and National Council of Women's Organisations (NCWO).

Stories of sufferings

Endon said she had heard a lot of stories about the suffering of Muslim women whose husbands married more than o­ne wife.

"When things go wrong, children will become the victims. As it is, mothers have no voice in the family, what more the children? The implications o­n children which results from disharmony in a family are often overlooked and forgotten.

"Marriage is an agreement and contract between two persons. o­ne party should not coerce the other party into accepting situations which have caused injustice and misery o­n the latter's part," she said.

Speaking o­n behalf of the 12 women's groups involved, Wanita Ikram coordinator Mariam Abdul (photo at right) in her opening speech said the coalition was formed shortly after Perlis Menteri Besar Shahidan Kassim created a controversy late last year.

Shahidan had invited Muslim men to take another wife in the state because the state government had ruled that a polygamous marriage does not require the first wife's consent.

Confusion

Mariam said since polygamy was banned among non-Muslims in 1982, there has been confusion among Muslim men to think that polygamy is their special right.

"Those who oppose polygamy within the Muslim community are often accused of being unIslamic and influenced by Western values," she said.

She said Islam does not force a wife to unwillingly accept and live with the husband's decision to marry another wife.

"Polygamy as it is practised now has brought a lot of sufferings to women and children, and ruin the family institution within the Malay community," she said.

Elaborating, she said the divorce rate among Muslim married couples is seven times higher than that of non-Muslim couples.

"Social problems such as drug addiction, dumping of babies, sexually transmitted disease and Aids, incestuous rape and domestic violence are also more prevalent among Malays than other races," she said.

At a press conference after the launch, SIS executive director Zainah Anwar (right) said polygamy is not an absolute right for Muslim men and is o­nly practised in exceptional cases.

She therefore urged Malaysian men to make a "conscious commitment" to monogamy.

Option to divorce

The coalition, she said, would also campaign for Muslim women to be given the option to divorce if they are not willing to tolerate their husbands taking another wife.

She added the coalition would also campaign for procedures for Muslim women to check o­n the marital status of the men they want to marry (currently this is o­nly available at the registrar of non-Muslim civil marriages).

"The authorities should develop procedures to ensure that existing wives know about their husbands' plan to take another wife and that a wife who chooses to remain in or leave a polygamous marriage will not suffer any financial or economic justice," she said.

The campaign this morning also saw R&B singer Ferhad (left) who was married last year, expressing support for monogamy.

A woman known o­nly as Watie also shared her experience of growing up as the child of a second wife with the audience. She said polygamy had put her mother under great duress when the father decided to leave them and marry a third wife.

About 200 people, mostly women, attended the function.