Divorce rate climbing due to economic crisis

Divorce rate climbing due to economic crisis

BOGOR (JP): Over the past few months an average of 60 divorce
cases emerged every month in the Bogor regency, according to the
latest data from the local Religious Court.

Head of the court, Nadjmi, said in his Cibinong office on
Monday that in most cases wives initiated the separation. Among
the most frequently submitted reasons are for "being abandoned by
husbands" and "no economic support".

The country has been badly hit by the continuous economic
crisis over the past three years.

Nadjmi said that other factors which caused the splits were
immoral actions, such as cheating on their partners and
disparities of ages, education and welfare backgrounds.

"In some cases, husbands were cheating on their wives and
looked for another wealthy women to gain economic support and
vice versa," he said.

"Most divorced men failed to put food on the table for their
families," he added.

The regency is home to three million people. Nadjmi's office
recorded 300 complaints per month, 60 percent of which are
demands for a split.

Nadjmi revealed that divorces in remote villages in the
regency have been much higher than those recorded in towns.

"We have no idea why it happens. There must be an in-depth
study conducted into this," he said.

He speculated that the lower number at the villages was a sign
that disputed couples settled their divorces at an institution
outside the religious court.

"They might divorce just like that without any formal or legal
documents, meaning that many people in the villages know little
about existing laws," Nadjmi said. (21/edt)