Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Malaysian women's groups claimed victory after the government put on hold contentious legislation which would have helped Muslim men to take multiple wives and claim property after divorce.
The government agreed to review the Islamic Family Law bill after it triggered a public outcry last month by forcing it through the upper house over the protests of women senators and civil society groups.
"We will not gazette the act just yet. The PM wants us to look at the views expressed thoroughly. He is very concerned about this," Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times. Nazri said that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had instructed the cabinet to hold further discussions on the controversial act, with the possibility of making amendments.
The cabinet is to seek the views of Womens Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and activist groups on the bill which affects Muslim Malays who make up some 60 percent of Malaysia's 26 million population.
Womens rights activists hailed the move but pointed out that the law had already been gazetted in several states in the country, some as early as 2003.
"It is great news for us, but we are proposing to redraft the law instead of just making amendments," said Sharifah Mas'ad Azzahir from Sisters In Islam, one of several activist groups in an alliance demanding that the bill be abandoned.
"We also believe that there should be a moratorium of the law, in the states that have already gazetted it," she said. Only two states in the country have yet to pass the law, she added.
The group is also urging the government to hear feedback from the public, particularly women with experience with the state sharia courts.
Critics have said that the bill is "unIslamic" by taking away traditional rights extended to women, and going against the religion's principles of equality and justice.
Malaysian Muslim men are allowed four wives under Islamic law, but under the new amendments they would no longer have to prove they are financially capable of treating all their wives equally before taking on another.
On taking a new wife, men could seize property belonging to existing wives, and they would be given new rights to claim assets after a divorce, as well as less obligation to pay compensation and maintenance.
Women's groups organised petitions, letter-writing campaigns and other strategies to put pressure on the government, which rarely faces such open opposition.