Malaysia: Wife's revenge triggers polygamy debate
The woman, currently in prison, threw acid on her husband's face because he wanted to marry again.
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews/Agencies) Siti Khalifah Sulong, a 53-year-old woman from the Malysian state of Kelantan, was taken into custody on 3 August and charged with having poured acid on her sleeping husband's face. Her husband, a military man, had told his wife he wanted to take a 30-year-old girl as his second wife. According to police, Siti's anger and fear for her future and that of her nine children pushed her to commit this act. For feminist Muslims, she is a hero. For Islamic clergy, she is a criminal. Since 1980, polygamy is allowed in Malaysia: a man can have up to four wives but he usually divorces his first wife only after marrying a second one. The incident has triggered widespread internal debate. Malaysian feminists say around 560,000 Malaysian women are very poor young mothers, abandoned by their husbands who left them for other women. Nik Aziz, Kelantan governor and the country's most influential ulema, visited the woman's husband in hospital, pledging solidarity.
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