Religious scholars back interfaith marriage
Religious scholars back interfaith marriage
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Planned reform in the civil registry system, particularly
interfaith marriages, is gaining more ground with religious
scholars throwing their weight behind it.
Ulil Abshar Abdalla, researcher and executive of the country's
largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) said that the
function of the civil registry office should be strictly limited
to registering marriages and other activities related to
citizenship.
"There should be a distinction between a marriage blessed by a
particular religion and civil registration of a marriage. It
should not be mixed as it is now," Ulil told The Jakarta Post on
Friday.
Mudji Sutrisno, a catholic priest and Budiman of the
Indonesian Buddhist Society (MBI) shared Ulil's view.
"It is annoying when the civil registry office insists that
you have the same faith as your spouse before it registers your
marriage. If couples of different religions want to get married,
the civil registry office should register their marriage,"
Budiman said.
A consortium of representatives from government, non-
governmental organization and Unicef recently revealed their plan
to formulate a civil registry bill that would allow the civil
registry office to register and legalize interfaith marriages
while maintaining their respective religions.
Under the 1974 Marriage Law, a marriage is legal only when it
is conducted according to one's faith or religion. In practice,
however, the civil registry office only recognizes marriages
between people of the same faith.
It also refuses to register nondenominational marriages unless
the couple chooses to convert to one of the religions recognized
by the state: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism and
Hinduism.
Such a ruling prompts couples from different religions --
especially Muslims wanting to marry non-Muslims -- to get married
outside the country where interfaith marriages are recognized.
Currently around 5,000 Indonesian couples are on a waiting
list in Singapore to have their marriage registered there.
Worse still, according to Budiman, the regulation has promoted
couples of different religions to pretend to have converted to
his or her spouse's religion just to have their marriage
registered. They would continue to practice their own religion
once their marriage had been registered.
Although the bill is not expected for another year, the
Consortium for Civil Registry have started to disseminate its
ideas.
"Interfaith marriage is becoming a growing problem as people
are more and more mobile. Human relationships are no longer based
on religion. So, there should be a solution to this problem,"
Ulil, who is also a member of the Indonesian Conference on
Religion and Peace (ICRP), said.
Ulil suggested that it would be better that the Religious
Affairs office (KUA), registered Muslim marriages. While for
Muslims who want to marry non-Muslims, they could get married in
the civil registry office.
Mudji agreed with Ulil. "I think it is good for our civil law.
This is a solution to the deadlock in interfaith marriage and it
respects religious differences because each person can maintain
his or her religion."
According to Budiman, the proposed reform would ease pressure
on couples of different faiths if they wanted to register their
marriage at the registry office.
"They will feel free to come to the civil registry office.
They wouldn't have to feel awkward about their religious
background," Budiman remarked.
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Planned reform in the civil registry system, particularly
interfaith marriages, is gaining more ground with religious
scholars throwing their weight behind it.
Ulil Abshar Abdalla, researcher and executive of the country's
largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) said that the
function of the civil registry office should be strictly limited
to registering marriages and other activities related to
citizenship.
"There should be a distinction between a marriage blessed by a
particular religion and civil registration of a marriage. It
should not be mixed as it is now," Ulil told The Jakarta Post on
Friday.
Mudji Sutrisno, a catholic priest and Budiman of the
Indonesian Buddhist Society (MBI) shared Ulil's view.
"It is annoying when the civil registry office insists that
you have the same faith as your spouse before it registers your
marriage. If couples of different religions want to get married,
the civil registry office should register their marriage,"
Budiman said.
A consortium of representatives from government, non-
governmental organization and Unicef recently revealed their plan
to formulate a civil registry bill that would allow the civil
registry office to register and legalize interfaith marriages
while maintaining their respective religions.
Under the 1974 Marriage Law, a marriage is legal only when it
is conducted according to one's faith or religion. In practice,
however, the civil registry office only recognizes marriages
between people of the same faith.
It also refuses to register nondenominational marriages unless
the couple chooses to convert to one of the religions recognized
by the state: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism and
Hinduism.
Such a ruling prompts couples from different religions --
especially Muslims wanting to marry non-Muslims -- to get married
outside the country where interfaith marriages are recognized.
Currently around 5,000 Indonesian couples are on a waiting
list in Singapore to have their marriage registered there.
Worse still, according to Budiman, the regulation has promoted
couples of different religions to pretend to have converted to
his or her spouse's religion just to have their marriage
registered. They would continue to practice their own religion
once their marriage had been registered.
Although the bill is not expected for another year, the
Consortium for Civil Registry have started to disseminate its
ideas.
"Interfaith marriage is becoming a growing problem as people
are more and more mobile. Human relationships are no longer based
on religion. So, there should be a solution to this problem,"
Ulil, who is also a member of the Indonesian Conference on
Religion and Peace (ICRP), said.
Ulil suggested that it would be better that the Religious
Affairs office (KUA), registered Muslim marriages. While for
Muslims who want to marry non-Muslims, they could get married in
the civil registry office.
Mudji agreed with Ulil. "I think it is good for our civil law.
This is a solution to the deadlock in interfaith marriage and it
respects religious differences because each person can maintain
his or her religion."
According to Budiman, the proposed reform would ease pressure
on couples of different faiths if they wanted to register their
marriage at the registry office.
"They will feel free to come to the civil registry office.
They wouldn't have to feel awkward about their religious
background," Budiman remarked.