More on mixed marriage

More on mixed marriage

It was rather puzzling to read the comment of Dewi Anggraeni
(The Jakarta Post, April 18, 2000) on the article titled
Discrimination and mixed marriages written by Martin Jenkins on
April 14, 2000.

To my opinion, the article is not about whether Indonesia is
an immigrant receiving country or not. The issue raised in the
article is a clear discrimination against Indonesian women. Ms.
Anggraeni may also read the letter from Ms. Elis Suminar (April
7, 2000) to see how the implementation of the discriminating
immigration policy has resulted in outrageous inhuman acts. I
learned about a year ago that Indonesian law truly differentiates
the marriage of an Indonesian woman to a foreign man to an
Indonesian man to a foreign woman.

Mr. Jenkins, again in my opinion, did not mean to be
insensitive toward prostitutes. Rather, he is trying to show us
that in fact Indonesian law implicates its favor to an unmarried
couple than the married counterpart. Furthermore, this article is
certainly not about the social stigma an Indonesian woman who is
married to a foreign man has to endure, but the burden of the
law that positions her even worse than a prostitute.

After almost 12 years of living abroad, I decided to live in
Indonesia and my foreign husband has agreed to follow me. With
the kind help of many people, I have been trying for more than
one year to obtain a resident permit for my dear husband before
his arrival to join me in Bandung in January 2000. The attempt
failed and he arrived with a social-cultural visa. Now he has to
renew his visa every month for a maximum six-month stay in
Indonesia. With this visa, he can not work voluntarily, even
without a salary, which he would very much like to do. I believe
that he could make a nice contribution to my country while
occupying his time accompanying his wife.

For us, it is not a matter of money but rather that the law
completely disregards the fact that we are a married couple.
Moreover, I feel terribly discriminated against as the foreign
wife of my colleague is treated far better than my husband in
regards to the ease of staying in this country. I would like to
thank Ms. Elis Suminar for bringing up the issue and to show that
the application of Indonesian law has resulted in a gross
violation of humanity. Still, I have a big hope that the current
government, in the spirit of reform, is going to change the
immigration policy. I believe I just have to wait a little bit
longer.

ANDONOWATI

Bandung