Jakarta – Women's rights group LBH Apik released its year-end letter on Monday, in which it highlighted several topics concerning women's rights; from weak enforcement of the domestic violence law to the Health Minister's decision to allow one of her subordinates to take a second wife.

LBH Apik said even though Indonesia had an advanced law on domestic violence, the implementation of the law last year was weak. The group said prosecutors tended to avoid seeking the maximum penalty for violent husbands. Most of them sought four to six months' imprisonment.

The group also said the government still sanctioned polygamy among civil servants, which was attainable but through strict procedures. "In 2010, the Health Minister [Endang R. Sedyaningsih] issued a permit for Zulkifli Amin, a doctor and a civil servant at Ciptomangunkusumo Hospital to take a second wife," Nursjahbani Katjasungkana, the group director, said.

Zulkifli claimed his first wife was sickly but the minister failed to consult the first wife who later sought consultancy from LBH Apik and filed a lawsuit against the license at a State Administrative Court, which revoked the minister's permit.

LBH Apik also addressed the problem surrounding discriminative bylaws, which reached 182 as of 2010, love affairs involving male legislators as reported by their wives, to the House of Representatives' Ethical Board and several cases like in Bireun, Aceh, where some community members objected to having a female district head.