Kartini and the issue of polygamy

Kartini and the issue of polygamy

Warief Djajanto Basorie, Jakarta

In the article Kartini, her life and letters (The Jakarta
Post, April 21, 2005), Susan J. Natih relates the role Kartini
played in women's emancipation in Indonesia by underscoring the
concern of the late 19th Century Javanese noblewoman for girls'
education.

Her forward-looking letters to her liberal-minded pen friends
reveal Kartini had other major, if not grave, thoughts. She vents
her anger at the injustice of colonialism and the wrongs against
girls and women (gender inequity in today's language),
particularly polygamy. This practice of having two or more wives
at the same time was common within the Javanese upper class.

The latter subject gets little mention in present tributes to
Kartini, perhaps because of the fear the hornets' nest it might
stir if women raise the issue.

Kartini lived through and was bound to this social
straitjacket from childhood to marriage. Her mother was a selir
(minor wife) of the regent of Japara, Raden Mas Adipati Ario
Sosroningrat. Kartini herself in 1903 at age 24 submitted to
become the wife of the regent of Rembang, Raden Adipati Djojo
Adiningrat, a man already married with children. Kartini did not
spare scathing words to describe the practice though she
unwittingly caused another woman to suffer.

The worst depression a married woman could possibly endure is
when her husband brings home a younger woman as her madu (co-
wife).

"In her heart almost every woman I know curses this right of
the man. But curses never help. Something must be done," Kartini
writes to feminist Stella Zeehandelaar in an Aug. 23, 1900
letter.

Kartini's approach to "something must be done" was, as she
relates to Mevrouw van Kol, to educate women, teach them a trade,
and learn to be independent. No one as yet has done it, no one
dares to do it, Kartini laments. Kartini concedes the way she
wishes to go is full of pitfalls. But she confides that though
she may give way before it is half reached, she shall die gladly
for the path will have been broken.

Today in the 21st Century polygamy persists and is legally
permitted in Muslim-majority Indonesia. The 1974 Marriage Act in
Article 3 states that a husband may have up to four wives on
condition that the wife consents.

Further Article 5 cites three instances where a husband may
practice polygamy: the wife is unable to execute the obligations
of a wife; the wife has acquired a bodily handicap or an
incurable disease; the wife is unable to bear children.

Women's rights advocates reject this provision of the law as
it works against women. They perceive the conditions that allow a
husband to practice polygamy are from the perspective of the
husband's interests.

Siti Musdah Mulia claims in her new 568-page book Muslimah
Reformis (Reformist Muslim Women) released in February 2005, the
law does not consider the woman's perspective.

The Marriage Act's stipulation on polygamy clearly places the
woman subordinate to the man, Musdah exclaims.

Musdah, a professor of Islamic Political Thought at the State
Islamic University, UIN, further explains there is only one verse
in the Koran, the Islamic holy book, that is always cited to
permit polygamy.

And if ye fear that ye will not deal fairly by the orphans,
marry of the women, who seem good to you, two or three or four;
and if ye fear ye cannot do justice (to so many) then one (only)
or (the captives) that your right hands possess.

Thus it is more likely that ye will not do injustice. (An-Nisa
4:3).

This verse allows a man to have up to four wives in the
context of caring for orphans, and it emphasizes that the women
must be treated equally. If the man is unable to do this, the man
may only have one wife. The Koran does not issue a recommendation
or a command to commit polygamy, Musdah asserts in her book.

Thus the principle of marriage in Islam is monogamy, not
polygamy. Because of this polygamy should be banned, the
outspoken Musdah boldly argues.

The Koran's fourth surah (chapter) titled An-Nisa (Women)
concerns women's rights. It was revealed months after the battle
of Uhud. Many Muslims were killed in this battle against pagan
Arabs, hence the concern for orphans and widows.

A prolific writer, Musdah is currently head of the Religion
and Social Affairs Research unit of the Ministry of Religious
Affairs. She was appointed leader of the ministry's Gender
Mainstreaming Task Force in 2003 assigned to do a critical review
of the 1991 Kompilasi Hukum Islam (KHI, Compilation of Islamic
Law) that was found to contain stipulations that tolerate gender
inequity. The KHI is an official guide for judges in (Islamic)
religious courts throughout Indonesia to rule on cases of
marriage, inheritance and other family issues.

Musdah's 10-member team that includes seven men produced a
118-page alternative draft of the KHI in October 2004 and placed
it in line with the Women's Empowerment Ministry's 2001 zero
tolerance policy toward all forms of violence against women. The
draft includes controversial proposals: A ban on polygamy and
permissibility of interfaith marriage to name two.

In explaining the ban, Musdah argues "polygamy is haram
(prohibited) because of its excesses." "We have data of children
neglected due to polygamy and neglected marriages," Musdah told
weekly news magazine Tempo in an interview in its Oct. 17 2004
issue.

The draft's release sparked vehement protests from entrenched
conservative circles. K.H. Ali Mustafa Ya'cub, member of the
Fatwa (Rulings) Commission of the influential Indonesian Ulema
Council (MUI), labels the draft KHI as "tantamount to Satanic
law." But Ulil-Abshar Abdallah, coordinator of the Liberal
Islamic Network, believes that although the Koran and the Hadith
(the sayings and customs of prophet Muhammad) are unchanging,
application of Islamic law must always follow social-political
developments. (Tempo, Jan. 2, 2005)

Because of the outcry, Minister of Religious Affairs M. Maftuh
Basyuni has shelved the draft. Meanwhile lobbyists who support
the draft have not stayed silent.

Activists linked in the Women's Network for the National
Legislation Program announced on April 20 proposed amendments to
seven laws affecting women's rights. One law they want to amend
is the 1974 Marriage Act.

After Kartini's untimely death on Sept. 17, 1904 following
childbirth, 101 years on the work she started to end the wrongs
against girls and women continues to face unrelenting resistance.

The writer is an instructor in journalism at the Dr.Soetomo
Press Institute, LPDS, in Jakarta. Comments are welcome and may
be sent to wariefdj@yahoo.com