Kalla backs extending polygamy ban

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 12/09/2006 1:29 PM

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Vice President Jusuf Kalla threw his support Friday behind the plan to expand the ban on polygamy to include all officials working for the state, including legislators and soldiers.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono voiced his approval for the move earlier, criticizing those who rejected the idea because Islam allowed polygamy.

Kalla said the plan to include other officials in the polygamy ban was to help the government record the data of its direct representatives.

""The government isn't regulating what's legal and not in terms of marriage, but we are recording marriages in order to provide the legal aspect,"" he said.

He stressed that the ban was not a form of intervention by the state in the private lives of its citizens.

Kalla added that the polygamy ban should not be excessively debated and the public should just refer to current law if they were considering polygamy.

Any marriage-affecting laws, he said, were only to make sure that all marriages were well-recorded by the state and were carried out in a legal way.

The government said last week it planned to extend the polygamy ban on state officials. Currently it only affects civil servants.

The plan has received strong backing from progressive Muslims, especially women, but has met opposition from religious conservatives who argue that polygamy is allowed under Islam and should not be banned by secular laws.

Under the 1974 Marriage Law, men are only allowed to take a second wife if their first wives are invalids, terminally ill or infertile.

The law is, however, rarely enforced and polygamy is becoming more common among Muslims.

The President has said that people should not use religion to justify polygamy as Islam requires men to meet many strict conditions before they can take more than one wife.

State Minister for Women's Empowerment Meutia Farida Hatta Swasono said the plan to revise the law would depend on an analysis done by women's organizations, human rights groups and universities.

The polygamy issue resurfaced last week when television cleric Abdullah ""Aa Gym"" Gymnastiar, famous among women for promoting harmonious family values, announced he had taken a younger second wife.

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