Jakarta – The National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) wants the government to revise Law No. 1/1974 on marriage, which legalizes polygamy, to protect women.
"The government has failed to understand that this law is very discriminatory," Komnas Perempuan commissioner Andy Yentriyani said on Wednesday told reporters. "There is no such thing as a polygamous marriage that benefits women."
"If we support a second wife, for example, the first wife will lose, and vice versa. There is no benefit to be gained by women in a polygamous marriage," Andy said. "We are against polygamous marriage and urge the government to revise the law."
A move to revise the 1974 marriage law has been gaining momentum after Garut Regent Aceng Fikri took as his second wife a 17-year-old girl, Fani Oktora, in an unregistered Muslim ceremony (siri), divorcing her by SMS four days later.
Another commissioner, Sri Nurherwati, said that Article 279 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) provided for a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment for men who failed to meet the legal requirements for a polygamous marriage as stipulated in the Marriage law.
She questioned provisions of the law that stipulate that polygamous marriages are allowed if a wife is infertile, disabled, has an incurable disease or did not fulfill her spousal responsibilities.
"These requirements raise questions. What is a wife's responsibility, to be exact? It's very unclear."
The law also stipulated that a polygamous husband must treat his wives fairly, must be able to support his family financially and receive the permission of his first wife before marrying multiple wives.
"If one of the requirements mentioned is not fulfilled, then it's a form of legal violation," Sri Nurherwati said. "However, no firm action has ever been taken against a man that didn't fulfill those requirements."
The commission recorded 96 martial-related crimes in 2012, including 41 cases of adultery and 20 cases of polygamous marriage without the first wife's permission, that have caused physical and mental sufferings and financial hardships.
As previously reported, the commission also said that domestic violence comprised 95 percent of 119,107 cases of violence against women recorded in 2011.
Commissioner Ninik Rahayu attributed the high incidence of domestic violence to a large number of polygamous and siri marriages, saying that half of the nation's marriages had not been registered with local Religious Affairs Offices (KUA), as required by law.
"This indicates that a lot of women are still unaware of the importance of registering their marriages, which could in fact protect them should any crimes take place within the marriage," she said.
According to Andy, another loophole in the Marriage Law allows girls over 16 to marry, while the 2002 Child Protection Law states that anyone below 18 is a minor. "Law enforcement has been weakened due to the legal irregularities," Andy said, referring to the case of Aceng.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is currently considering a legal request to impeach Aceng. (nad)