Women cannot easily get a divorce<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
About 12 couples in the city were divorced every day last
\nyear, data states.<\/p>\n
And in most cases, it is the wife who wants to end the
\nmarriage - because of two main reasons: either the man neglected
\nthe family or he had an affair with another woman.<\/p>\n
\"There are many reasons for a divorce. But in most cases,
\nwomen who want to divorce the husband complained that he
\nneglected the family or had an affair with another woman,\" South
\nJakarta Religious Court deputy head registrar Aida said.<\/p>\n
Alcohol and gambling were also contributing factors, she said.<\/p>\n
Religious courts handle the divorce cases for Muslim couples,
\nwhile non-Muslims file for divorce at the district court.<\/p>\n
Last year, both courts handled about 4,538 divorce cases. More
\nthan 3,000 cases were filed by women.<\/p>\n
The marriage law stipulates that both a woman and a man have
\nthe same right to request a divorce. Like the husband, the wife
\ncan file a divorce request without her husband's agreement.<\/p>\n
In reality, divorce procedures can be lengthy and complicated.<\/p>\n
If the husband does not want a divorce, it is difficult for
\nthe wife to divorce him. In this patriarchal society, she has to
\nget her husband's agreement for the divorce. Otherwise, it could
\ntake months or even more than one year before the woman can
\nofficially divorce him.<\/p>\n
A divorced woman acknowledged the condition saying that she
\nhad experienced difficulties during the hearings of her divorce
\ncase.<\/p>\n
\"This case cost me a lot. Not only in term of money and time
\nbut also emotions,\" said Meita of her experience two years ago.<\/p>\n
Meita, not her real name, said she was charged Rp 291,000 when
\nfiling the suit at the court, and paid the lawyer Rp 10 million.<\/p>\n
Meita requested a divorce from his husband, an entertainment
\nbusinessman, since she felt abused emotionally by him. Although
\nshe was accompanied by a lawyer, the hearings did not run
\nsmoothly as it was not easy to prove emotional abuse.<\/p>\n
Her husband and his attorneys refused to come to the hearings
\nseveral times, forcing the court to postpone it. However, the
\ncourt finally approved her request after more than six-months.<\/p>\n
An officer at the West Jakarta Religious Court, Ahmad, said
\nthat the process could take a long time as the judge wanted to
\nmake sure that the husband agreed to the divorce.<\/p>\n
\"Most of the time, we have to wait until the husband approves
\nhis wife's request. We also have to try to unite them according
\nto the procedure,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He rejected the accusation that the process could be
\ncomplicated due to the corruption amid the notorious judiciary.<\/p>\n
He also reasoned that the court must consider many things,
\nincluding the condition of the marriage and the children.<\/p>\n
If both the husband and the wife agree to divorce, a court
\nwill approve the divorce request in about two months. Otherwise,
\nit will take more than a year before the court approves it. Or,
\nin some cases, the court might even turn down the request, if the
\njudge was of the opinion that there was no strong reasons for the
\ndivorce.<\/p>\n
A judge at the South Jakarta District Court, said there was a
\nwoman who wanted a divorce because there was no harmony in her
\nmarriage. But he rejected the request because the woman failed to
\nprove that the marriage was rocky, while witnesses testified that
\nthere was nothing wrong in their marriage.<\/p>\n
\"We considered more about their under-aged children. As a
\nmother, she has to think about them,\" said the judge, who
\nbelieved that both couples must make sacrifices for their
\nmarriage.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Apong Herlina criticized the judge, saying the court
\nmust give equal treatment to both men and women who requested a
\ndivorce.<\/p>\n
\"What is the benefit of rejecting a divorce request? A broken
\nmarriage could give bad influence to children as they have to
\nlive in an unhealthy atmosphere,\" she told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
\"I believe such cases happened because judges are gender
\nbiased. They still think that a divorce is a man's right,\" she
\nsaid, adding that it could also happen if the case was handled by
\ncorrupt judges.<\/p>\n
Apong, a founder of the Legal Aid Institute of the Association
\nof Indonesia Women for Justice (LBH APIK) once experienced
\ndifficulties while counseling a woman in a divorce case. The
\nwoman's husband had another woman but he refused to divorce his
\nwife as this could damage his reputation in his office.<\/p>\n
The man refused to attend the hearing for the case and forced
\nthe court to postpone the case. The court finally approved the
\nwife's application after 18 months.<\/p>\n
LBH APIK works together with Kalyanamitra, an organization for
\nwomen counseling.<\/p>\n
Last year, Kalyanamitra handled 83 cases of marital abuse, of
\nwhich 60 ended in divorce.<\/p>",
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