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‘Nikah siri’ hampers efforts to end child marriage
Indonesia’s Marriage Law prohibits children under 19 to wed unless they secure court approval, but many opt to bypass the lengthy process with nikah siri (traditional, unregulated marriage), which activists say has contributed to the high number of child marriages in Indonesia
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span>Indonesia’s Marriage Law prohibits children under 19 to wed unless they secure court approval, but many opt to bypass the lengthy process with nikah siri (traditional, unregulated marriage), which activists say has contributed to the high number of child marriages in Indonesia.
Surianti, 52, from Makassar, South Sulawesi, decided to marry off her daughters Desi and Nurdillah through nikah siri to avoid procedural hurdles at the Religious Affairs Office (KUA), as they had yet to reach the minimum marriageable age. Both Desi and Nurdillah got married when they were 14.
“I didn’t visit the KUA because I knew they wouldn’t grant me permission. My daughters were still very young,” Surianti said.
Instead, she sought the help of a Muslim leader in her neighborhood to help arrange the nikah siri for her daughters and paid Rp 1 million (US$72) for each of the unregistered marriages.
Surianti said it was better for the young girls to get married “than committing sinful [adultery] and embarrassing the family”.
Nurdillah, meanwhile, said she was happy with her role as mother of a 7-year old boy and a housewife — even though she had to bury her dream of becoming a teacher.
“My husband and I are living a happy life despite getting married at a young age. We love each other,” she said.
Nurdillah had dropped out of junior high school to marry Muhammad Farhan, now 17. They both live in Makassar.
Sulawesi has the highest prevalence of child marriage in the country, with a rate of 16.3 percent, followed by Kalimantan and Nusa Tenggara, with 15.6 percent and 15 percent, respectively, according to a census by Statistics Indonesia (BPS).
BPS data also shows that Indonesia, in general, has an average child-marriage rate of 11.2 percent from a total of 79.6 million children nationwide.
The BPS census predicted about 1.2 millions of such marriages in 2018.
Of the figure, however, only around 13,000 marriages were conducted in accordance with prevailing legal procedures or with approval from local religious courts, according to the Supreme Court.
The remaining 1.1 million child marriages were likely through nikah siri, the Supreme Court said.
“The BPS recorded 1.2 million child-marriage cases in 2018, but we only received 13,815 dispensation requests that year or around 1 percent of the total cases. What happened to the other 99 percent?” said Amran Suadi, the Supreme Court’s religious court chamber head.
Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister I Gusti Ayu Bintang Darmawati said that various factors contributed to the high prevalence of child marriages in Indonesia, ranging from financial problems to religious doctrines.
Many people, she said, were also unaware of the negative consequences of child marriages, such as a higher risk of poverty, domestic violence, death during childbirth and stunting.
“But the government is here and ready to curb child marriages by prioritizing the effort in the 2020 and 2024 RPJMN [national medium-term development plan], which aims to reduce the prevalence rate of 11.2 percent in 2018 to 8.74 percent by the end of 2024,” she said.
“We can achieve the ambitious target with better [cooperation].”
The ministry previously signed a commitment with 20 provinces with the highest child marriage rates in the country to curb the practice.
Jambi, West Java, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, North Sulawesi and Papua are among the 20 provinces.
South Sulawesi recorded increasing cases of child marriage after a devastating earthquake and liquefaction hit its capital Palu and surrounding regions in September 2018. At least 110 early marriages took place in the affected areas between October 2018 and February 2020, said Dewi Rana from Palu-based women’s rights advocacy group LIBU Perempuan.
Many were due to financial problems incurred in the aftermath of the disasters and some because of the parents’ ignorance of the minimum marriageable age for girls, which was increased from 16 to 19 through the amendment of the 1974 Marriage Law by the House of Representatives last September.
“LIBU Perempuan will continue educating parents about the minimum age limit,” Dewi said.
