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Court rejects bid to make polygamy easier
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JAKARTA (Reuters) - An Indonesian businessman's bid tomake polygamy easier was rejected by the country'sconstitutional court on Wednesday. Indonesia allows polygamy, but according to themarriage law, a man can only get court approval totake a second wife if his first wife agrees, or if sheis disabled or cannot have children. Businessman Muhammad Insa, the petitioner in the courtcase, argued that those conditions effectively preventpolygamy, and this has meant that many men avoidregistering their second marriages. As a result,children from unregistered marriages often lose theirinheritance rights and other benefits. The court said in its ruling that the articles werenot against the constitution or against the tenets ofIslam, which allows multiple marriages on conditionthat wives are treated fairly. "These articles ... are intended to protect the basicrights of wives and prospective wives of men whoengage in polygamy," court chief Jimly Asshiddiqiesaid. Insa said the decision was unfair. "I'm not happy. With such conditions, polygamy cannotbe practiced," he told reporters, adding "I willcontinue my struggle with other people or groups." The polygamy debate in Indonesia, the world's mostpopulous Muslim country, heated up last year after apopular Islamic cleric announced that he had taken asecond wife. Abdullah Gymnastiar, a turban-clad, leather-jacketedpreacher, is a household name in Indonesia because ofhis relaxed sermons on Islam that strike a chord withordinary people charmed by his chatty, youthful style. But his popularity declined after his second marriagewas made public. Though not widely practiced among ordinaryIndonesians, polygamy has some prominent advocates,including restaurateur Puspo Wardoyo who has fourwives, and who has been at the forefront of a campaignto promote multiple marriages. Wardoyo's popular chain of restaurants is renowned forits "polygamy juice," a mixture of four tropicalfruits, and "polygamy vegetables," a four-vegetable combo.
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