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Letter: Marrying a 12-year-old
Thu, 10/30/2008 10:28 AM | Reader's Forum
This cleric is a pedophile, preying on underage girls. He has violated six laws on child protection, marriage, health, labor and children's welfare.
Moreover, according to the law, sexual involvement with minors is a crime. This is called statutory rape. The 1974 marriage law states that a woman should be at least 16 years old to marry.
This man is a pedophile, clearly a danger to minors; he should be thrown in jail for having violated so many laws.
When Lutfiana Ulfa knew that her parents agreed to this unlawful marriage, the girl cried for weeks and weeks. She just wanted to have an education and enjoy her childhood.
The Religious Affairs Minister has already condemned this marriage and the Indonesian Child Protection Commission has insisted on a thorough investigation.
This cleric is misusing the holy book and his role as a so-called "religious community leader" to justify his sick actions. He is a pervert.
The Religious Affairs Minister should take stern action and should see to it that he serves a jail term as this will serve as a deterrent to prevent other clerics from marrying minors.
Although he is a rich businessman, this should not stop the authorities from throwing him in jail. Soon pedophiles from all over the world will come to Indonesia, become bogus Muslims and start sexually abusing minors.
Interpol has already tracked down and arrested a number of pedophiles in Bali and Yogyakarta and these perverts are now serving long jail terms in their respective countries.
The Indonesian government, including all religious leaders, should do their utmost to protect children and see to it that they can enjoy a normal life as a child and more importantly -- have an education.
LYNNA VAN DER ZEE-OEHMKE
Bogor, West Java
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George D (not verified) — Wed, 11/05/2008 - 3:34pm
The 1974 law is very clear on this matter, and the police must enforce it and arrest this man.
Islam has nothing to do with whether this man should go to jail. Nothing at all.
Indonesia exists under Pancasila, and as a result all laws have to be acceptable to different people under different religions. As a result we have laws that are tolerable for all, and this is one. The law must be upheld, for the good of Indonesia, otherwise we will have one law for hardline Muslims and another for everyone else.
Of course if people think that Islam allows such acts, and therefore they should be legal, they can change the law, and use parliament to enforce their beliefs. This will cause problems for non-Muslims. We have just seen this with the pornography law, which is offensive to Balinese and many Papuans. Continued creation of Islamic law is against Pancasila and will risk the NKRI, as other religions will rebel and decide they cannot live under these conditions.
Tomaso Tettamanti, Lugano Switzerland (not verified) — Tue, 11/04/2008 - 8:15pm
In my view Ibus Caroline and Lynna are prejudging the Prophet and the Indonesian cleric who is the subject of controversy over marrying a 12-year old girl. By extension, you have both jumped to the conclusion that the cleric is motivated by sexual desire towards this marriage. The Prophet, for instance, is respected for marrying many widows who were unable to protect themselves. By marrying them he was motivated by the desire to help them, rather than acquire a "harem".
Sexual desire is rarely the only reason why a man chooses to marry a woman and often may not be the primary criterion for the union. If we consider the intermarriage between the children of rich Indonesian families we often see the desire of parents to bring different conglomerates together and/or to preserve the wealth of the families. This is also the case in the Middle East, the birth place of Islam, where most marriages are arranged.
The problem with "pedophilia" is that the word is being tossed around with abandon, just like the word "pornography". Many Western sexologists will actually recommend erotic stimulations like "blue movies" to couples to help then revive or enhance their romantic feelings towards each other. It is hard to see detect criminal intent in this. Yet, Indonesian lawmakers are making criminals of consenting adults.
In Canada, the age of consent for sexual congress is 14. It has been feminists who have resisted increasing the age, because they realize that any change in the age could be used to criminalize teenage girls, the same way that statutory rape laws in the US end up making criminals of teenage males who are merely participating in consensual intercourse.
What may be criminal in one culture may be quite acceptable in another. It does appear that Indonesia is marching towards shariah-type laws, similar to Malaysia and non-Muslim Indonesians must either dissuade their Muslim compatriots from this or get used to living like Arabs.
Agsapt (not verified) — Tue, 11/04/2008 - 5:53pm
I understand what this man did does not introduce any comfort to people's heart. But please, DO NOT immediately bring religion issue to the surface just because of this cleric, especially when people who give comments don't practice nor understand Islam at all. Be wise when you give comments, and do not use provocative words.
Just a simple suggestion to people here who already submitted their posting: learn Islam before you judge it, then you will find out that the story about Prophet Mohammed and Aisyah IS NOT AT ALL what you just said in your postings.
Caroline (not verified) — Mon, 11/03/2008 - 6:45pm
I do give my sincerest apologies of my ignorance in the century Mohammad was in existence. Yes, although I am not a practicing Muslim I do believe in justice of ALL mankind. However, I would like to make it clear - Prophets are not God. They are human beings created by God to speak the message of God. This also means that prophets are not perfect because only God is perfect. This is a common belief in many mainstream religions. Are you telling the global community that it is okay to sell your child – let us not even go to the extent as selling – but allowing your 12 year old child to be betrothed to a man 4 times her senior? I agree with you that there are many forces that are subjecting Indonesian women back to the culture of seventh century Arabia (I cannot emphasize how much that is understated) , but as a 21st century woman I cannot help and voice my opinion on this heart wrenching subject. There will be adults who sexually fantasize about children and twist the sanctifications of a religious doctrine. There are people who will perverse the purity that Prophet Mohammad meant for good. The admiration that men have towards a savior/redeemer is understandable, but like I said before – we are a new global community of too much information. Let us forget about moral issues for a second, but focus on the psychological issues. Today we as a society of educated men and women know more psychological information than those of previous centuries – whether it is from academics or internet resources. In our post-modern world our advances have led us to more profound and innovative theories and ideologies. It has been proven numerous times of the harmful physiological effects of a child who experienced pedophilia. With that, I would always love to find more articles – if you are willing to pass them along to me - where pedophilia is encouraged for psychological, physical, and emotional euphoria for a child. I would much appreciate it!
Vina (not verified) — Sun, 11/02/2008 - 8:47pm
I am glad that everybody sees what is wrong with islam ( finally ) the thought of prophet mohammad marrying aisyah when she was 6 years old and had sex with her when she was 9, and nobody says anything wrong until this cleric. i dont see any difference between this cleric and prophet mohammad.rather than the other one has happened to be a prophet and the other one is just somebody trying to follow his footsteps, cause obviously the prophet get away with this. so, for those of you whose saying that this guy is pervert or pedophilia , PLEASE!!!!
Tomaso Tettamanti, Lugano Switzerland (not verified) — Fri, 10/31/2008 - 1:02pm
Ibu Caroline can not be a Muslim or she would know that the Prophet Mohammed lived in the seventh and not first century. There are many forces in Indonesia which are trying to drag Indonesian women back to the culture of seventh century Arabia. Most practising Muslims revere the Prophet and many Muslim men sport beards to appear like him. For them, the Prophet could do no wrong. If the Prophet could marry a child, why can't they?
Caroline (not verified) — Fri, 10/31/2008 - 10:21am
This man IS a pedophile! Who in their right mind will actually believe that a 12 year old is mentally mature enough to be engaged in holy Matrimony? If her parents had given consent – or even if this little girl had given consent - she is a twelve year old child NONETHELESS. Prophet Mohammed’s betrothal to Aisha was in the FIRST century. We are currently in the 21st century and under DIFFERENT RULES. Cultural barriers of marriage have been broken since then and now as a society with TOO MUCH INFORMATION we should know better. I am appalled to see a rich* businessman-who should also be well educated and - to even justify his reasoning for marrying a twelve year old. I also resent the idea of people using the name of ANY religion to justify their perverse actions. This man is mad and the parents of this little girl are mad. Has our global community become so perverse in their thoughts that they have sunken so low have their child marry for THEIR OWN love of money? Syech Puji needs to be thrown in jail with the other pedophiles in this world!!
Tomaso Tettamanti, Lugano Switzerland (not verified) — Thu, 10/30/2008 - 4:17pm
If somebody is a practicing Muslim, it does seem that the example of the Prophet Mohammed's betrothal to Aisha, when she was aged 6 and reportedly consummated when she was 8 or 9 years of age would exonerate the cleric's marrying a girl age 12. If the girl's parents consented and if she herself did not object, what is the problem? Different cultures and countries have different ideas about what age constitutes adulthood. For instance, Japanese seem to recognize the age of 13 as that when girls can legally consent to sex. In the State of Texas it would be 18.
Just as everybody has their own definition of pornography, everybody has their own definition of pedophilia and the word should be used with circumspection to avoid slander.