ABSTRACT

Recent years have seen rising numbers of Malaysian couples contracting cross-border marriages (CBMs) in Southern Thailand to “halalise” (render permissible) romantic relationships and secret polygynous unions. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork conducted at the Malaysian–Thai border, this article examines the Malaysian state’s increasing bureaucratic intervention in these elopements, and the streamlining of marriage procedures in Thailand that raises the legal standard of these marriages to one recognised by Malaysian Syariah Courts. It argues that the strengthening cooperation between the Malaysian and Thai Islamic bureaucracies creates a level of standardisation and synchronisation that allows for a more facile recognition of each other’s authority, and an easier “translation” of their policies, practices and certification standards. Although this unveils new pathways and possibilities for Malaysian couples to access intimacy halal (lawful) in Islam, Malaysian Syariah law and Malay custom (adat), it also facilitates men’s circumvention of existing legal restrictions on polygyny in the Islamic Family Law. Through the lens of CBMs, this article illustrates how transnational and cross-border collaborations between neighbouring Islamic bureaucracies in Southeast Asia engender unintended but direct detrimental consequences in the everyday practice and experience of polygyny for Muslims in Malaysia.

摘要

近年来，越来越多的马来西亚夫妇在泰国南部签订跨境婚姻 (CBM)，以“清真”（允许）浪漫关系和秘密的一夫多妻结合。借鉴在马来西亚-泰国边境进行的长期民族志实地考察，本文考察了马来西亚政府对这些私奔事件的日益增加的官僚干预，以及泰国简化婚姻程序，将这些婚姻的法律标准提高到马来西亚伊斯兰教义认可的标准法院。它认为，马来西亚和泰国伊斯兰官僚机构之间​​加强合作创造了一个标准化和同步的水平，允许更容易地承认彼此的权威，并更容易地“翻译”他们的政策、实践和认证标准。虽然这个推出新的途径和可能性马来西亚夫妇访问亲密清真伊斯兰教（合法的），马来西亚回教法和马来习俗（ADAT)，它还有助于男性规避伊斯兰家庭法中对一夫多妻制的现有法律限制。本文从 CBM 的角度说明了东南亚相邻伊斯兰官僚机构之间​​的跨国和跨境合作如何在马来西亚穆斯林的一夫多妻制的日常实践和体验中产生意想不到但直接的有害后果。