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The Ministry of Religious Affairs is set to settle issues today surrounding the controversial draft marriage bill, which Minister Suryadharma Ali recently called “illegal.”

Nasaruddin Umar, director general for Islamic guidance at the ministry, said on Sunday that his team would deliver complete reports about the proposed draft bill to the minister, declining further comment.

Nasaruddin told the Jakarta Globe on Feb. 14 that the ministry fully supported the draft, which proposed the fining or jailing of men who failed to register their marriages in a bid to curb polygamy. But on Friday, the minister told several media that there was nothing wrong with unregistered marriages and polygamy.

“Unregistered marriage is legal before the law because all the requirements are fulfilled,” he reportedly said.

Suryadharma also denied signing any draft to be submitted for deliberation, despite Nasaruddin’s statement saying the draft was already with the State Secretariat and ready for the president’s review.

Ignatius Mulyono, head of the House of Representatives Commission VIII, which oversees religious affairs, told the Globe they had not received the bill.

Meanwhile, more controversy is brewing over the bill. Masruchah, a commissioner at the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), told the Globe that an article in the proposed legislation on marriage would require foreigners seeking Indonesian brides to pay their potential wives a Rp 500 million guarantee ($53,500).

She said she understood that the article was aimed at protecting Indonesian women caught in nikah siri (unregistered marriages) and their children, but said she did not understand how those who had deliberated the bill had come up with the figure.

“I don’t know why or how [Rp 500 million] was set as the figure. There is much that needs to be discussed in regard to this bill,” Masruchah said.

According to a copy of the draft bill dated 2008 and obtained by the Globe, Article 142 states that foreign men must pay the sum after presenting written verification from their country of origin that they are allowed to marry.

One ministry official, however, denied the article was still included in the draft law currently under discussion, and another official declined comment.

The head of the women’s wing of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country’s largest Muslim organization, also expressed bafflement over the article.

“I have no wish to comment on why the government wants foreigners who want to marry Indonesian women to pay Rp 500 million.
But I am disturbed with the figure ... as if a woman is worth only Rp 500 million,” Maria Ulfa Anshori said.

The spirit of the bill lies in the banning of nikah siri, which is conducted mostly in secret, leaving women bound in such marriages without any legal or financial protection. Banning such unions is crucial to curbing polygamy, given that some men take second wives without the consent of their first wives via unregistered marriages.

“I can understand that the bill is trying to protect women in such kinds of marriages, but to set a fee at Rp 500 million? Yes, I agree, we recognize nikah siri under Islamic law,” Maria said, referring to the fact that it is valid as long as witnesses are present. However, she did not deny that nikah siri was being abused by Indonesian men who wanted to engage in polygamy but failed to secure the agreement of their first wife.

“A woman needs to think twice before entering an unregistered marriage. The woman has no rights to money or property. Her children will be born with no rights to anything,” she said.

“Islam is a monogamous religion. Marriage is about commitment. A man is going against Islam and the vows of commitment if he takes on a second wife on the basis of attraction.

“We need to think very deeply and carefully about the contents of this bill ... before it is passed into law.”

The existing Law No. 1/1974 on Marriage requires couples to register their marriages with the appropriate civil registry office.
However, there are no penalties for violators.