Indonesia tightens polygamy rules for civil servants
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Critics are calling for the practice to be abolished entirely, citing its discriminatory nature and harmful impact on women. A recent decree aimed at regulating polygamy among Jakarta’s male civil servants has sparked a backlash as critics are calling for the practice to be abolished entirely, citing its discriminatory nature and harmful impact on women.
The Jakarta gubernatorial regulation, issued on 6 January by acting governor Teguh Setyabudi, reaffirms and tightens existing provisions under Indonesia’s 1974 Marriage Law, which permits polygamy under specific conditions. The decree outlines the strict requirements civil servants must meet to take additional wives, including medical proof that the first wife is unable to perform her marital responsibilities due to disability or illness, evidence of infertility after ten years of marriage, written consent from the first wife, and a court’s approval.
The Jakarta Employment Agency – a government regional civil service agency – has defended the move, describing it as an effort to reduce the city’s high divorce rates among government employees. “[Hopefully] after the issuance of the [decree], there will be no more civil servants who divorce without permission from their institutions and have more than one wife without complying with the prevailing regulations,” said Chaidir, head of the Jakarta Employment Agency, in a statement last Friday.
However, the decree has drawn sharp criticism from human rights groups and gender equality advocates, who argue that such regulations perpetuate patriarchal norms, enable domestic violence, and fail to protect women and children in polygamous marriages.
