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Interfaith couples concerned as resistance to Surabaya court ruling grows
A grassroots religious group has threatened to report the judges responsible for the ruling, despite the case making clear use of a legal precedent from 1986.
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Interfaith couples have expressed their concern about growing resistance to a Surabaya district court ruling in June that recognizes interfaith marriage. (Unsplash/Courtesy of Samantha Gades)
M
onica Seles, 29, is feeling worried. A recent attempt to overturn a court ruling on interfaith marriages in Surabaya, East Java, has her concerned for other mixed couples in the country and their right to be wed.
She said she believes religion should not be a “barrier to marriage”, and that anyone acting in the name of religion should not prevent mixed marriages from occurring. Monica, herself a Catholic housewife hailing from South Jakarta, is married to a Protestant man.
“If both parties agree to a decision to get married in spite of their religious differences and have complied with their country’s regulations, […] then it is not a real problem,” she told The Jakarta Post on July 15. She underlined the importance of adhering to national laws, which she says all “good religious people and good citizens” should do.
Last month, Indonesian social media lit up after the Surabaya District Court ruled to recognize an interfaith marriage between a Muslim man and a Christian woman, identified only as RA and EDS, respectively, after the local civil registry office refused to acknowledge their union. The couple married in March in a process that observed both Islamic and Christian wedding rites as set out in prevailing regulations.
The Surabaya Civil Registry Office (Disdukcapil) challenged the court ruling and the hearing is set to continue on Aug. 10.
The decision also sparked outrage among religious groups, some of which have called for the ruling to be annulled on the grounds that it contravenes religious laws. The head of the Indonesian Ulema Council’s (MUI) law and human rights commission, Deding Ishak, said the organization would report the judges who authorized the marriage to the Judicial Commission for examination.
“The President and Vice President must understand and pay attention to this. Even though there are legal corridors, this is a concern that must be taken seriously,” Deding told a local news outlet on June 23.
