Kuala Lumpur, July 13: The vast majority of young Muslims in Indonesia and Malaysia appear to disapprove of the traditional acceptance of polygamy but remain reluctant to openly support inter-faith marriages or premarital sex, a new survey shows.
In the survey coordinated by two German-based cultural organisations, 86.5 per cent of 1,496 Indonesians interviewed and 72.7 per cent of 1,060 Malaysians said they were against polygamy. More females opposed polygamy compared to males, who are permitted four wives under Islamic law.
The findings indicate that opinions among the young in both Muslim-majority nations “have shifted from the traditional viewpoint that sees polygamy as an Islamic precept”, according to a survey summary released on Monday by the Goeth-Institut and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.
Young respondents
The all-Muslim respondents of face-to-face interviews last October and November were 15 to 25 years old. Indonesia and Malaysia have Southeast Asia’s largest Muslim populations, and polygamy has become widely debated in both countries in recent years.
Ninety-two per cent of the Indonesian respondents and 62 per cent of Malaysians also said they were unwilling to wed someone from a different religion.
Only 1.4 per cent of Indonesians and 1.6 per cent of Malaysians polled said premarital sex was acceptable.
-Agencies