Julia S. and Tim Lindsey get married

JAKARTA: Prominent Indonesian feminist Julia Suryakusuma, 51, got married in an Islamic ceremony on Sept. 15 to Australian Timothy Lindsey, 43, a professor at Melbourne University, who has written a number of books and papers on Indonesia and Islam.

In an e-mail message made available to The Jakarta Post, elated Julia wrote that she and Tim "made the decision in a matter of days".

The two first met on July 11 in Australia, when Julia was invited to be a speaker at Melbourne Writers' Festival.

Both admired each other's works and the second time they met in Jakarta they "discovered so many points of commonality, it was astounding" -- all within 24 hours.

"Nothing romantic happened then, but we continued the relationship long-distance and 11 days later decided to get married, without even having kissed!" Julia wrote.

"Sounds crazy, but both of us had never been so sure of anything in our lives," she continued.

For Julia (in center of photo), this is her second union after being married to film director Ami Priyono, who died in 2001. With Ami, she had a son, Aditya, 30. For Tim, this is his third marriage. From his second marriage to an Indonesian-born, Australian citizen, he has three daughters (see photo).

After the September Islamic ceremony, Julia and Tim had a civic ceremony on Oct. 29 at Tim's parents' in Seville, Australia.

Julia wrote that for the time being the couple have opted for a "commuting marriage": Tim would visit Indonesia once a month, as he has been doing for seven years. --JP