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