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)