Gemma Holliani Cahya, Jakarta – Wedding vows usually include a promise of everlasting love, but a bill on "family resilience" proposed by the House of Representatives goes a step further by enshrining the obligation in law.
Article 24 Point 2 of the draft states that "every husband and wife who are legally married are obligated to love, respect, honor and be loyal to each other, as well as to provide physical and spiritual help for each other."
The article is among a number of provisions in the bill that have drawn criticism online.
"Twenty years into the Reform Era, we are being taught to love each other by the state," Twitter user Bhagavad Sambadha posted on Wednesday through his twitter handle @fullmoonfolks.
"Indonesian lawmakers are at work to make it compulsory for a husband and wife to love each other! Yeah, they believe that [among] many social problems this is a priority!" Twitter user @afrilluva said.
The family resilience bill is one of 50 bills listed as priority bills in the 2020 National Legislation Program.
Articles 121 to 129 of the bill stipulate the establishment of a nonministerial board to manage family-related policies, including creating family resilience "norms, standards, procedures and criteria."
"Forming a family resilience agency can also be problematic, because it only increases state interference in everyone's personal life," Mutiara Ika Pratiwi of women's rights group Perempuan Mahardhika told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.