The Jakarta Post
A public debate on early marriages wafted out again when the son of
prominent ustad (Islamic teacher) Arifin Ilham, 17-year-old Muhammad
Alvin Faiz, married Larissa Chou, 20, on Aug. 6.
Proudly
announcing his full blessing, Arifin said he married off his child to
protect him from harm in the world and after life. On his official
Facebook account, Arifin said “with marriage, Alvin could be more
focused on tafaqquhu fiddiini [studying Islam]”.
Alvin’s case is
not a one-off. Early marriages are prevalent in Indonesia, influenced by
the adherence to religious beliefs and socio-economic aspects. The
Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded the percentage of Indonesian
children, especially women, who get married before reaching their 18th
birthday at 23 percent in 2015.
The 1974 Marriage Law sets the
minimum age of marriage for females at 16 years, and 19 years for males.
Alvin must first obtain a marriage dispensation from the Cibinong
Religious Court because he is considered underage.
Indonesia
Planned Parenthood Association (PKBI) member Frenia Nababan said early
marriages should not be seen as a favored way to avoid pre-marital sex
because it could dismiss a reality at its core—child marriages
constituted sexual relations with or among children.
“Early
marriage is merely seen as the best option to protect children from
committing adultery or pre-marital sex. Marriage, however, is not all
about sex,” Frenia told The Jakarta Post.
As a result, she said,
the conventional wisdom was that the younger the men decided to marry,
the more responsible he would seem to be in the eye of the public
although this might not be the case.
Read also: Early marriage campaign gains ground
Union of two people: Muhammad Alvin Faiz, 17, kisses his wife Larissa
Chou, 20, after their marriage ceremony on Aug. 6. (Courtesy of Bintang.com/-)
For girls, early marriages are often used as a strategy to reduce
household economic burdens. “There are many things one should consider
before he or she enters a marriage, such as their mental and physical
readiness, earning capacity and their capability to raise children,”
said Frenia.
She said child marriages were closely linked to
poverty. Girls who were married as children tend to be school dropouts,
limiting their employment opportunities. They were also prone to
complications during pregnancy and labor. “These will hamper the
country’s efforts to achieve quality human resources,” said Frenia.
The PKBI is part of the Indonesian Coalition to End Child Marriage
(Koalisi 18+), a social movement that aims to stop child marriage and
the forced marriage of young people. Last year, Koalisi 18+ filed a
judicial review against the 1974 Marriage Law, requesting the government
to increase the minimum age of marriage to 18 for females. The
Constitutional Court rejected the request in a hearing in June 2015.
The coalition would continue to advocate and raise awareness against
child marriages and forced marriages despite the disappointing result,
Frenia said.
Meanwhile, the National Family Planning and
Population Agency (BKKBN) is of the opinion that the minimum age of
marriage for females should be 21. It says, according to health aspects,
a woman will be physically and mentally ready at 21 while the minimum
age for a man should be 25.
Clinical and forensic psychologist
Kassandra Putranto said mental and social immaturity within child
marriages would impact the quality of a family.
She said teenage
brains were wired uniquely, in which the prefrontal cortex, or the
control part of the brain, was still immature. Whereas, part of the
brain that sought pleasure and reward, tended to be more developed.
This was why, Kassandra said, parents had a duty to assist their children in making the best decisions for their future. (ebf)
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