Raids on out-of-wedlock couples will be launched in Batam

Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam, Riau

The Batam Mayoralty is planning to conduct raids on couples living together out of wedlock.

Head of the social office, Azwan, said on Monday the raids would begin on March 16. The number of unwed cohabiting couples had reached an alarming level in the area, he said.

"Couples living together out of matrimony are disturbing the public order. Our country has Eastern values that are high in moral standards, not like Western countries, which consent to such practices," he told The Jakarta Post. This was especially true of Batam, which followed Malay and Islamic cultural norms, he said.

The number of unwed couples has been estimated at about 2,000 in the mayoralty.

Azwan said the raids were lawful under the local Bylaw No. 6 on social orderliness.

In the bylaw, couples found living together without proof of a marriage license are liable to a maximum fine of Rp 5 million (US$590.00) and be would be married off en masse.

Several factors had contributed to the high rate of couples living together out of wedlock, Evianora Azwar, a physician at the Nongsa community health center and a women's rights activist, said.

Most of the couples were between the ages of 18 and 25 and were sexually active. They usually were migrants with no parents to monitor them, a situation that led them to uncontrolled acts of promiscuity, she said.

There were also 2,000 sexual workers operating in Batam, she said. Some of them had become mistresses to Singaporean or Malaysian nationals living about 40 minutes away from the city.

They lived in housing complexes or boarding houses around the Nagoya area, she said.

Zailani, the secretary of a neighborhood unit in the Citra Pendawa Asri complex, said the residents had decided to expel any unmarried couples found living together.