T

he last thing on many people’s minds is to say thank you to a woman who won fame more for her intimacy with one of the late president Soeharto’s closest aides than for her singing career.

But it was because of Machicha Mochtar, aka Aisyah, that the state now effectively recognizes the legal claim of children to their biological fathers and the responsibility of fathers and their families to their children, despite being born out of wedlock.

The ruling of the Constitutional Court, announced on Feb. 17, was a national precedent for children who find themselves continually whispered about and constantly confronted by hassles as they progress toward adulthood, because only their mothers are listed on their birth certificates.

Provided that Machicha could prove through science, witnesses or other legally accepted means that the late state secretary Moerdiono was the biological father of her son, the boy will have all legal rights equal to a child born within a legal marriage.

The Court ruled that the 1974 Marriage Law violates the 1945 Constitution, which grants the right of all children to self development and “protection against violence and discrimination”.

Machicha had filed a request for a judicial review of the 1974 law, which states that “children born out of wedlock only have civil relations with their mothers and the family of their mothers”.

The Court acknowledged that the former dangdut singer had been wed to Moerdiono in 1993 in a religious ceremony called nikah siri, which was not registered with the state — a fact that Moerdiono’s family will challenge in court.

To settle the matter once and for all, Machicha hopes that Moerdiono’s family members will agree to a DNA test to help prove her claim.

The controversy over the ruling continues. “What if all bastards gain the right to inheritance?” was one fuming question. “Hooraayy, Indonesians can have children out of wedlock,” was another cynical comment on an interactive news website.

Others have echoed the statement of the Constitutional Court’s spokesman, judge Akil Mochtar, that the ruling “will force womanizers to acknowledge their children born out of wedlock.” Men will now think twice about the consequence of having an affair, one woman said.

The ruling is not a silver bullet to end the miseries of children sharing the fate of Machicha’s 16-year-old son, M Iqbal Ramadhan. Mistresses and unregistered wives are no doubt closely watching Machicha’s next moves, as she faces further challenges in renewing Iqbal’s birth certificate, especially more court battles with her former husband’s family.

Defenders of polygamy now remind us that registered polygamy, which is legal under the Marriage Law under a number of conditions, is much better to guarantee the rights of all wives and their children, compared to unions such as cohabitation or nikah siri.

The legal experts have much homework left to do, as the ruling has raised even more questions.

But for now, let’s share the hope, however slim, of millions of children, who might have better lives, if only through the possession of a piece of paper identifying their mothers and fathers. According to the National Child Protection Commission, they are part of 50 percent of Indonesian children without birth certificates.