True love or chauvinism?

True love or chauvinism?

MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara (JP): Local government officials
in East Lombok have a come up with a new policy designed to keep
local women faithful: deny them contraception.

Women are not allowed to ask for birth control devices while
their husbands are working overseas. Officials say that the men
here fear that their wives might "misuse" their intrauterine
devices, or IUDs, while they are working in places like Malaysia.

"It's meant as a precaution so lonely housewives won't be
tempted to do negative things while their husbands are away," a
spokesman for the East lombok regency, Lalu Zakaria, told Antara
yesterday.

The rule also applies to local women who have been divorced by
their husbands, who then move to Malaysia. The women are nastily
called jamal, an Indonesian acronym for janda Malaysia or
"Malaysian widows."

An independent demographic organization estimates that up to
25,000 people from East Lombok work in Malaysia, mostly in the
plantation and construction projects, legally or otherwise.

Zakaria said the policy was issued after many husbands openly
complained that their wives were taking contraceptives while they
were away.

To make the policy effective, the local government makes it a
rule that no housewife may go for contraception services without
their husbands' written consent.

Local officials add that many of the wives request to have the
devices removed to show their faithfulness. (pan)