A coalition of six women's groups wants a stop to the frequent amending of Islamic Family Law (IFL) which they claim has caused a regression of Muslim women's rights.

Instead, the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) is calling for a new model of Muslim Family Law to reflect the circumstances of modern Muslim families.

JAG's call comes in the wake of the passing of a controversial Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) (Amendment) Bill 2005 at the Dewan Negara yesterday.

During yesterday's four-hour debate, the Bill drew flak from 12 of the 16 female senators who believe amendments to the Bill discriminated against Muslim women. The Bill, however, was passed unanimously.

Among the controversial amendments are those viewed as making divorce and polygamy easier for men and also allowing men to obtain court orders to stop their wives from disposing their property.

The Federal Territories will be the last state to adopt the amendments. The amendments were agreed upon by the government and the Rulers Council in 2003 to streamline IFL in all states.

At a press conference in Petaling Jaya today, JAG called for a Parliamentary Select Committee on the IFL to draw feedback from Muslim women on their experiences with the Syariah court system.

Sisters-in-Islam (SIS) executive director Zainah Anwar, who was choked with emotion throughout the press conference, said that since the 1976 Law Reform Marriages and Divorce Act governing non-Muslims was only drafted after public consultation, Muslims should also be granted participation in the decision-making process.

Emerging trend

Zainah also referred to the amendments as a "patchwork approach" to tinker with a flawed law.

"The trend in Muslim countries is not to do patchwork amendments but to comprehensively rework family law in the context of justice and equality," she said, adding that Tunisia, Morocco and Turkey had adopted this approach.

Also present that the press conference was Zaidah Abdul Rahman, a housewife who had her bank accounts frozen by her husband two weeks before he divorced her in October 2004.

A resident in Selangor for 12 years, Zaidah claims she never had a chance to defend herself during the divorce proceedings, that took place in Johor, as she was not informed of the divorce

"He even filled an application to freeze my daughter's bank accounts five days after the divorce proceedings. Her account was frozen the very day," said Zaidah ( left ), prompting gasps of disbelief among the scores of SIS supporters who attended the press conference.

SIS legal advisor Razlinawati Razali said that Zaidah's ex-husband had taken advantage of loopholes and ambiguities within the amended law. For example, the law is silent on whether a father can seek a court order to freeze his daughter's bank account, even if he is not the custodian.

Meanwhile, the group also commended the prime minister's promise to "revamp" the Syariah Court system and further amend the IFL.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil yesterday said she met Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi over the contentious Bill and he had agreed to amend it.

"He agreed that the Syariah system needed a revamp to reflect the government's commitment towards ensuring gender equality," added Shahrizat as reported by The Star .