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Unemployment leads to rise in divorce in Batam
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Illustration of divorce. (Shutterstock/Matt Benoit)
F
inancial issues top the cause of divorce in Batam, Riau Islands, where mostly wives file for divorce after their husbands are dismissed from work, according to data by Batam religious court.
The court recorded 1,300 divorce cases from January to September this year, caused mostly by economic problems. Some 80 percent of the cases were filed by the wives.
“The majority of the cases are financial issues. Husbands who could not provide for their wives or family,” the court’s spokesman Ahmad Nabawi said on Friday.
The husbands did not have the income to support the family after they were fired from their jobs, as there had been many lay-offs taking place in Batam.
The number of divorce cases rose compared with 1,000 cases handled by the court throughout last year.
Read also: Pigeon racing leads to dozens of divorces in Purbalingga
In an effort to reduce the high rate of divorce, the Batam office of the Religious Affairs Ministry has encouraged mediators to bridge the communication between couples who are on the verge of divorce. The mediation process takes place usually before the couple proceed with the divorce process in the court.
Batam Empowerment Agency reported that from January to July this year there had been 46 small scale and big scale companies in the city that filed for closure to the agency on the back of negative economic conditions. A total of 3,000 workers had been dismissed, the agency head Rudi Syakyakirti said. (rin)
