The Jakarta Globe, Putri Prameshwari, February 1, 2009
Alarmed that more Indonesians are divorcing over the contentious issue of polygamy, the central government is considering making premarital counseling mandatory for all couples planning to wed, a senior Ministry of Religious Affairs official said on Sunday.
Nasaruddin Umar, director general of religious guidance at the ministry, said that the number of women who cited polygamy as the reason for seeking divorce had risen from 813 in 2004 to more than 1,000 in 2008.
“On that basis, we’re considering compulsory pre-marriage counseling,” Umar told the Jakarta Globe.
The ministry will draft a regulation requiring all couples, regardless of their religious faith, to take a course to learn about the requirements of marriage before they tie the knot, he said.
“Couples who don’t have [a course] certificate will not be able to get married,” he said.
Umar said Indonesia was not the first country to adopt such a policy, noting that Christian churches in most countries required premarital counseling. However, that policy is generally not government mandated, whereas the Religious Affairs Ministry’s new policy would be a state regulation.
Statistics were not immediately available on the number of countries that legally require premarital counseling. China insists that couples take a premarital course, but it mainly provides information about contraception and HIV/AIDS.
Umar said that the ministry was working with several state Islamic universities across the country to formulate a curriculum for the premarital course.
“Hopefully, we can start by the end of this year,” he said.
While polygamy is legal in Indonesia, it remains an extremely sensitive issue, with proponents saying men have the right under Islamic law to have multiple wives, while women’s groups say the practice is discriminatory.
Government officials and lawmakers have from time to time debated this issue, with no result, though President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2006 extended a ban on civil servants engaging in polygamy unless they received permission from their superior and their first wife, according to presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng.
Under Article 4 of the Law on Marriage No. 1/1974, a husband may remarry up to three times if his wife gives her consent, or cannot meet her marital obligations. He is also allowed to take a new wife if his existing wife falls sick, is physically handicapped, or is unable to give birth. However, the government rarely enforces the restrictions.
Sri Nur Herawati, a consultation coordinator at LBH Apik, a legal aid institution for women, has called on the government to revise the law, saying if a wife refuses to allow her husband to marry another woman, he often marries illegally.
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