Polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...

is legal in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, the largest

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

population in the world. Polygamy in Indonesia is not just practiced by Muslims, but also customarily done by non-Muslim minorities, such as the Balinese and the Papuans. A Muslim man may take up to four wives. As allowed by

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

, a man may take more than one wife as long as he treats them equally and can financially support them all. Despite such religious legality, polygamy has faced some of the most intense opposition in Indonesia of any Muslim majority nation. Recent restrictions have brought about harsher penalties for unlawfully contracted polygamous unions and polygamy is said to be on the decline. Indonesian military personnel are only permitted to practice polygamy if their religion allows it. Additionally, he must prove to the government that his first wife is unable to carry out her duties as a wife. Polygamy under

Balinese Hinduism Balinese Hinduism ( id, Agama Hindu Dharma; Agama Tirtha; Agama Air Suci; Agama Hindu Bali) is the form of Hinduism practised by the majority of the population of Bali.McDaniel, June (2013), A Modern Hindu Monotheism: Indonesian Hindus as ‘P ...

is sanctioned and unrestricted, but the marriage is regulated by ''

adat Alesis Digital Audio Tape (ADAT) is a magnetic tape format used for the recording of eight digital audio tracks onto the same S-VHS tape used by consumer VCRs. Although it is a tape-based format, the term ''ADAT'' now refers to its successo ...

'' (traditional customs). Although polygamous marriages are practiced in Bali, the nature of Hindu polygamy has not been included in the national marriage law debates. The native inhabitants of West Papua and Papua have been practicing polygamy long before the arrival of Christian missionaries. The Papuans who choose to still practice polygamous marriages after being Christians usually conduct the ''adat'' marriages instead of the church one. On a separate note, a feminist group published a list of potentially

polygamous Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is ...

in hopes of reducing female votes in those politicians.

Restrictions on civil servants

Indonesian civil servants are restricted from performing polygamy.

Call for complete ban on polygamy

In late April 2008, a rally of Indonesian women led a protest against the nation's laws allowing for polygamy and polygamous marriages; urging the government to enact a complete ban over such marriages. Male Indonesian politicians were found to be largely opposed, and such a ban has yet to take place.

References

External links

"Test of Tolerance"
a 2018 episode of

Channel NewsAsia CNA (stylised as cna), which is an acronym derived from its previous name, Channel NewsAsia, is a Singaporean multinational news channel owned by the country's national public broadcaster Mediacorp. It broadcasts free-to-air domestically in Sin ...

's ''Deciphering Indonesia'' television series in which journalist Cheryl Marella interviews the members of a polygamous Muslim family {{DEFAULTSORT:Polygamy In Indonesia Society of Indonesia