Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Calls are mounting for a revision of the 1974 marriage law which activists claim justifies polygamy and exploits disadvantage women.

Legal Aid Foundation of the Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (LBH APIK) says the law discriminates against women and paves the way for a husband to marry another woman without the consent of his wife.

LBH APIK director Estu Rakhmi Fanani said an article in the law allowed a husband to propose polygamy at the religious court if his wife suffered from physical disadvantages or incurable diseases.

"It means it is all right for a man to take another wife if his current one is disabled. What happened to the wedding vows the husband made to stay by his wife in both good and bad times?" she told a media conference in Jakarta on Saturday.

The motives behind polygamy often center the blame on women, she said. LBH APIK says polygamy is a marriage crime. The NGO has received 87 reports of polygamy this year, up from 16 in the previous year.

Most cases involve polygamy stemming from adultery while the remainder concern polygamous marriages conducted without the permission of the wife, or simply undocumented polygamy.

"The legalization of polygamy only forces women into an inferior position, and often this has negative impacts on children," said Estu.

A woman at the media event said she only found out her husband was involved in a polygamous marriage seven years after he remarried.

"I opened a text message on my husband's cell phone and the contents gave me the impression it was from a woman who he was close to," she said. She immediately called the woman who admitted to having been married to her husband for seven years.

Another speaker said his father had proposed polygamy to a court citing his mother's acute schizophrenia as a reason. He said his father had resisted advice to take his wife to a psychiatrist. "I found out later the real motive behind my father's reluctance was tied up with his proposal in court to practice polygamy," he said.

Estu said the fact the marriage law did not take into consideration the impact of polygamy on children should prompt the government to revise the law. Islam allows a man to take up to four wives.