The Jakarta Globe,Mar 21, 2014
Jakarta. The National Commission on Violence Against Women has praised Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini for her decision to fire a number of civil servants for polygamy.
“It’s the right decision because civil servants had to promise when they were installed that they would not break regulations, laws or the constitution,” Masruchah, the deputy chairwoman of the commission, told the Jakarta Globe on Friday. “It’s a lesson for other civil servants to maintain the harmony of their family.”
Risman fired 30 civil servants in 2013. It could not be confirmed how many of the 30 had been fired for polygamy — a number lost their jobs to other factors, the local government said.
“Most of those fired by us during 2013 were for having a second marriage without a permit — the rest was for misusing the budget,” Risma said as quoted by news portal Merdeka.com on Tuesday.
Risma said that she had issued formal warnings to the civil servants, but all were ignored.
“The response to the warning showed they were underestimating, even challenging us,” Risma said. “So we fired them.”
A regulation passed in 1983 requires civil servants seek a permit from their superiors to take a second wife.
“The decision was correct because having more than one wife causes problems both in the family and the office,” Masruchah said. “There’s no such things as healthy polygamy as there are always people who get hurt because of the second and subsequent marriages.”
Regardless of the rules, she said, many public figures including prominent politicians continue to consider it acceptable for a man to hitch his ride to more than one woman. Under Indonesia’s archaic 1974 family code, men may marry more than once if they can prove that their first wife is disabled, terminally ill or unable to bear children.
“They are lawmakers; they should comply with the law,” she said. “The 1974 Marriage Law stated that the principle of marriage is monogamy. Polygamy is a crime.”
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vr 21 maa 2014 - 11:49