On marriage law

On marriage law

From Media Indonesia

I would like to respond to a report that State Minister for
Empowerment of Women's Roles Khofifah Indar Parawansa, which
approves of a proposal made by the central governing board of the
Islamic Union that Government Regulation No. 10/1983 should be
revoked. It has also been reported that Minister of Religious
Affairs Muhammad Tolchah Hasan has welcomed this proposal.

My husband, a civil servant, has divorced me for another
woman, whom he has married illegally. However, even now, my
husband has never been subjected to any sanctions. As a wife
filing a lawsuit against her husband, I have found very unfair
the decision that my husband must divorce me, which the court of
religious affairs has passed on the basis of Law No. 1/1974 on
Marriage, the 1991 Compilation of Islamic Laws and Government
Regulation No 10.

I have found the following provisions unfair:
(a) Articles 149 and 158 of Chapter XVII of the 1992 Compilation,
which provides that if a marriage ends because a husband divorces
his wife owing to the latter's adultery, the husband shall be
obligated to provide a means of living, mu'tah and so forth to
his former wife. This provision does not apply to a wife suing
her husband.
(b) Article 41c of Chapter VIII of the 1974 Law on Marriage
stipulates that a husband shall be obligated to provide a means
of living to his former wife. However, in reality, this provision
cannot be applied because of the stipulation referred to in (a),
that is, in the event of a wife suing her husband.
(c) Subarticle 4 of Article 8 of Government Regulation No. 10
stipulates that if it is the wife that files the lawsuit, she
shall not get 1/3 of the earnings of the husband as a civil
servant. Although this provision has been amended in Government
Regulation No. 45/1990, which stipulates that if a wife is
subjected to disdain by her husband (for example by his
adultery), she will continue to get livelihood, the ruling of the
court continues to be based on the stipulation referred to in
(a).

Therefore, because of incomplete and contradictory provisions,
I, a legally-wedded wife suing her husband for having illegally
married another woman, cannot get from my former husband the
livelihood and other things that should belong to me by law.

Therefore, I suggest that Government Regulation No. 10 not be
scrapped. Instead, it has to be adjusted to the Law on Marriage
and the Compilation of Islamic Laws. Then the Law on Marriage and
the Compilation must also be improved.

Government Regulation No. 10 must remain to ensure that a male
civil servant shall not remarry without the consent of his wife.
Bear in mind Article 2 of Chapter I of the 1974 Law on Marriage,
which stipulates the necessity to register a marriage and Article
14 of the same law, which prohibits cohabitation without a legal
nuptial bond. A violation of these provisions will be subject to
the imposition of Government Regulation No. 30, namely a severe
disciplinary penalty (being discharged from the civil service).

It is my hope that after all adjustment and improvement have
been made, these provisions must be intensively popularized among
married women.

PUSPITA

Jakarta