Letter: Mixed marriage and property
| Thu, 06/24/2010 10:07 AM
Recent discussions in this newspaper regarding foreign ownership of
property in Indonesia have not taken into account the predicament of
thousands of families in which one of the parents is Indonesian and the
other a foreigner, i.e. mixed marriage families.
Mixed marriage does not always involve an Indonesian woman and a wealthy
foreign man, who can afford to purchase a luxury apartment. There are
also foreign women married to Indonesian men and young couples with
limited financial resources. Many of these families would prefer to own a
small house on their own plot of land.
Any regulation that will be issued should deal not only with ownership
of land/houses by foreign investors but also by mixed marriage families,
by for example: Allowing mixed marriage couples, with or without a
prenuptial agreement, to own land and to bequeath it to the surviving
spouse and children.
Indonesia, which has ratified CEDAW (the Convention on the Eradication
of Discrimination against Women) and adopted it as Law 7/1984, should no
longer prohibit property ownership by Indonesian women solely on the
grounds that they are married to a foreigner. The idea of giving an
opportunity to foreign investors to own property in Indonesia so that
they will be attracted to invest here has been discussed for years;
however, it always fails to be implemented.
Rather than trying to make changes to the regulation, the possibility of
revising or changing outdated Law 5/1960 should be considered. The main
point is that the lawmakers should make amendments not only for the
rich and for investors; the families and children in mixed marriages
have to be given consideration.
M. Ardipradja
Jakarta
