In Malaysia Over 1000 guests and supporters turned up for the launch of a new club in a leafy suburb, held in conjunction with a mass wedding of 10 couples, with the brides all members of the new club. Islamic group Global Ikhwan held the club’s inaugural meeting in Kuala Lumpur, giving women tips on how to keep their men satisfied and prevent them from straying. Polygamy is legal for Muslims, who make up more than 60 per cent of Malaysia’s population, allowing Muslim men to take up to four wives. As reported in the Sydney Herald:
“You must satisfy your husband. A good wife should be a whore in bed,” said Dr Rohaya, 46, whose husband has three other wives.
“If the wife is obedient, then the husband feels good and is entertained and this builds a closer relationship and greater love and no one strays,” groom Mohamad Shurahbil Amran, 23, said.
His bride Umuhani Lokman Hakim, 19, dressed in a golden white Arabic wedding gown, was reticent when asked why she joined the club and would only say: “It is the right thing to do to keep the family together.”
The Herald notes:
Women’s rights group EMPOWER said the club was a step back for the progress of the equality movement.
“We cannot go back to caveman days where the man pulls the woman by the hair and takes her to the cave to have his way. We must recognise that women contribute a lot more than just being a sex toy,” the group’s executive director Maria Chin Abdullah said.
Last year, a study by a Muslim activist group found men in polygamous relationships find it difficult to meet the needs of all their wives and children, and that the result is often unhappy and cash-strapped families.