Legal consequences of mixed marriages

By T. Sima Gunawan

Love transcends everything, including race, ethnicity and nationality. Marriage between people of different nationalities is not uncommon, but this does not mean that it is without problems. Those who tie such conjugal knots apparently face cultural problems, and what's more, such marriages have many legal consequences. The Jakarta Post examines the issue and identifies the problems for Indonesians and their foreign spouses. More stories on page 2.

JAKARTA (JP): What used to be called love can turn into a nightmare as Lina knows all too well. Her Pakistani husband left her, returning to his home country with their baby but without telling her.

She made every effort to "invite" Ali, her husband, to return to Indonesia with the hope that she would be able to see the baby, who was only nine months old when Ali took him away. Not only did she contact the Pakistani Embassy in Jakarta, she also wrote to Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto for help.

After a year had passed Lina lost her patience. She filed a lawsuit at the Lahore District Court against her husband, demanding custody of the child.

In October 1994, the court ruled in favor of Lina and she returned to Jakarta with the child, Atiq Rachman.

But that is not the end of the story. No. The problems are far from over because Atiq is not an Indonesian. He has Pakistani nationality.

Under Indonesian law, children of a woman who is married to a foreigner follow their father's nationality, although when the child grows up, he or she can apply for Indonesian citizenship.

If the child is born outside marriage, however, he or she will have the same nationality as the mother.

Spokesman of the Directorate General of Immigration Mursanudin A. Ghani says the minimum age at which one can apply for Indonesian citizenship is 21.

But in cases where the child's parents are divorced, the child can submit the application at the age of 18.

Lina's lawyers, Mohamad Assegaf and Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, condemn the above citizenship law.

"It is not fair and does not make sense," Assegaf complained. "You have the custody of your child, but the child is an alien."

Such sexist law, according to Assegaf, exists not only in Indonesia, but also in many other countries.

Any foreigner residing in Indonesia needs special documents which must be renewed from time to time. The failure to meet the regulations can result in deportation, as happened to the four- year-old Andreya Masaru, whose mother is Indonesian and father Japanese. Andreya had to leave the country last month because his visa had expired in May 1995, two months after his parents got divorced.

Like other foreigners, Andreya also has to pay the tax levied on non-Indonesian citizens.

Last month the city administration ratified a new regulation increasing the annual foreigners' tax by an average of 500 percent. These new levels are expected to bring in at least Rp 17.62 billion (US$74.50 million) in revenue from taxes imposed on the 45,800 expatriates in Jakarta.

The tax charged on the head of a family is increased from Rp 90,000 to Rp 450,000, while that on the spouse is increased from Rp 60,000 to Rp 300,000.

The first and second children are subject to increased taxes from Rp 30,000 to Rp 150,000. The third child and other family members are subject to Rp 300,000 each in annual tax.

Nursyahbani, chairwoman of the Association of Indonesian Women for Justice, said the citizenship law No.62/1958 contradicts law No.7/1984 on the Ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

She plans to challenge the sexist law and ask the court to convert the citizenship of Lina's child from Pakistani to Indonesian.

Citizenship is not the only legal problem in mixed marriages; inheritance is another as is the law barring foreigners from owning a house or land in Indonesia.

Earlier this year, the government issued regulation No. 41/1996, which allows foreigners to own property in the country. But State Minister of Public Housing Akbar Tandjung said that the regulation defines foreigners as investors or businesspeople who regularly visit Indonesia.

Consequently, a foreign housewife married to an Indonesian man would not be able to inherit any property if her husband dies. What she can do is ask for court approval to sell the property so that she can obtain the money.

If they are divorced, the property is meant to be divided in two, but what happens in many cases is that a foreign woman often finds it difficult to demand her right, according to Assegaf, who has handled a number of mixed-marriage cases.

In 1994 noted painter Basoeki Abdullah was murdered in a foiled robbery attempt. His widow, Nataya Nareerat, a Thai woman, requested that the court recognize her as Basuki's heir. She said they were married in Thailand, but the South Jakarta District Court ruled that the marriage was illegal because it was not registered at the Indonesian Embassy.

Given that mixed marriages unite two people from countries which are likely to have very different regulations, it is important to learn about the regulations that hold in each other's country to make sure that one's marriage is valid.