Country Advice

Indonesia
Indonesia – IDN36243 – Women –
Domestic violence – State protection –
Support services – Legal provisions –
Divorce
18 February 2010

1. Please advise what avenues for assistance are open to a female victim of domestic
violence in Indonesia i.e. women’s shelters, NGO and government agencies, etc? What
processes would need to be followed in order to gain that assistance?
It would appear that a range of women’s legal support groups are operating in Indonesia, with
readily available contact details, and which are frequently engaged in awareness campaigns
alerting women in Indonesia to the availability of aid in matters relating to domestic violence.
No information could be located on any government agencies tasked with responding to such
matters beyond those associated with the Indonesian police service (for more on which, see
the information on state protection provided in response to Question 2).
In December 2003 the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) reported on the number
of government and non-government services available to female victims of domestic violence
as follows:
 Women’s Help Desks (Ruang Pelayanan Khusus, or RPK) in police offices. As of May
2001, there were 163 Women’s Help Desks in police offices in 19 provinces [note: for
more on these see Question 2].
 Crisis centers in hospitals in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, and 30 other cities.
 Shelters for survivors provided by Rifka Anissa and SIKAP, two women’s NGOs.
 Legal aid assistance provided by LBH APIK, a women’s NGO. 1
The UNIFEM website also lists the contact details of a network known as Mitra Perempuan
(MP; Women’s Crisis Centre) which provides: “a telephone hotline, counselling, temporary
shelter, advocacy and support”. The website of Mitra Perempuan is currently down; however,
it would appear that Mitra Perempuan remains active as the activities of the network, and
contact numbers for MP’s hotline, were recently reported on in The Jakarta Post on 23
December 2009:
Established in 1995, the Mitra Perempuan crisis center, headquartered in Tebet, South Jakarta,
has branches in Bogor and Tangerang. Besides providing private counseling, it also runs a
hotline at (021) 8379 0010 to accommodate reports of domestic violence.
The center is now supported by 29 counselors.
This year, as of Dec. 14, the center has handled 204 complaints of abuse from women and
children in Jakarta, Tangerang, Bekasi, Depok and Bogor. More than 60 percent were related
to physical abuse.

1
UN Development Fund for Women 2003, ‘Indonesia Country Profile’, A Life Free of Violence It’s Our Right!,
December http://www.unifem-eseasia.org/resources/others/domesticviolence/PDF/Indonesia.pdf – Accessed 19
February 2010 – Attachment 1.
 Rita said those coming forward hailed from a range of backgrounds, rebuffing the widely held
perception that domestic violence only occurred in low-income families as a result of financial
strain.
The number of complaints this year is a 26.8 percent decrease from the 279 cases in 2008. 2
The same report provides information on the procedures for accessing state protection in
matters of domestic violence and comment, from the head of Mitra Perempuan, Rita Serena
Kolibonso, on certain problems associated with these procedures:
Under prevailing laws, a woman claiming to have been physically abused must first report the
case to the police.
The police will then give the victim a letter to request physical or medical examination at a
hospital.
The hospital may only send the exam results to the police, who will then use it as evidence to
follow up on the victim’s report.
A victim, however, must have the examination as soon as possible, because injuries more than
three days old are not legally considered evidence.
Rita said this procedure had become another obstacle for women from low-income families.
“With no money to undergo an examination, it’s the same as saying they should forget about
asking for help from the police,” she said.
Data from Mitra Perempuan shows that of the dozens of hospitals in Greater Jakarta, only 10
have since 2007 provided free medical exams for victims of domestic violence. 3
As is noted above, the Legal Aid Institute for the Indonesian Women’s Association for Justice
(LBH Apik) is another non-government avenue of assistance for female victims of domestic
violence in Indonesia. The primary form of assistance provided by LBH Apik in this regard is
legal aid: “both in Court and outside the Court (example, resolving the support that the
husband should provide while the case is being tried in court)”. Additionally: “If the victim
requires it, APIK will bring the victim to a crisis center to obtain psychological/counseling
services”. 4 LBH Apik maintains a website with contact details 5 and LBH Apik has engaged in
numerous awareness campaigns 6 to alert women across Indonesia to the existence of the LBH
Apik network and its capacity to provide assistance to victims of domestic violence.
Ratna Bataramunti, the Director of LBH Apik, has argued that the 2004 passage of a new law
criminalizing domestic violence against women, Law No. 23/2004, has empowered victims of
domestic violence to come forward in seeking assistance from “women’s legal support
groups” (further information on this law, and its effects, is provided under Question 2). In the
July/September 2006 issue of Inside Indonesia Bataramunti reported that, since the passage of
the law, many more women were coming forward to report domestic violence to “women’s

2
Widhiarto, H. 2009, ‘Roll out free exams to boost violence reporting, says NGO’, Jakarata Post, 23 December
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/12/23/roll-out-free-exams-boost-violence-reporting-says-ngo.html –
Accessed 19 February 2010 – Attachment 2.
3
Widhiarto, H. 2009, ‘Roll out free exams to boost violence reporting, says NGO’, Jakarata Post, 23 December
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/12/23/roll-out-free-exams-boost-violence-reporting-says-ngo.html –
Accessed 19 February 2010 – Attachment 2.
4
‘Legislative advocacy activities: Examples’ (undated), LBH Apik website http://www.lbh-apik.or.id/gd-
legislative%20advocacy.htm – Accessed 18 February 2010 – Attachment 3.
5
‘Kontak’ (undated), LBH Apik website http://www.lbh-apik.or.id/kontak.htm – Accessed 18 February 2010 –
Attachment 4.
6
‘APIK 2008-2011’ (undated), Oxfam Novib website
http://www.oxfamnovib.nl/id.html?lang=EN&id=PROJ_DETAIL&pid=IDO-501562-0004447 – Accessed 18
February 2010 – Attachment 5; ‘Legal Assistance and legal campaign advocacy, Indonesian Women’s
Association for Justice – LBH APIK’ (undated), Asia Development Bank website
http://www.adb.org/gender/working/ino001.asp – Accessed 18 February 2010 – Attachment 6.
legal support groups across the country”. Citing figures collected by the “women’s human
rights group, Komnas Perempuan” (the National Commission on Violence Against Women),
Bataramunti relates that: “Reports have risen from 14,020 in 2004 to 20,391 in 2005. And
numbers have increased so far in 2006 as well”. 7 More recently LBH Apik has referred to
smaller figures, announcing in January 2010 that the “number of reports [of violence against
women] increased from 853 in 2008 and 747 in 2007” with the majority of these being
domestic violence incident (62 percent of the 2008 figure). 8
In May 2008 the Indonesian Working Group on the Advocacy Against Torture (WGAT)
provided the following figures:

The National Commission on Violence against Women [Komnas Perempuan] recorded that in
2007, there were 25.522 cases of violence against women, which were handled by 215
institutions, including, the law enforcement agencies, hospitals, and civil society
organizations. The figure consistently increased, from 7.787 cases in 2003.

In 2006, out of the 22,512 cases registered, 74% had occurred in the household. A similar
trend concerned the cases registered in 2007. 9

2. What access do female victims of domestic violence in Indonesia have to state

protection i.e. police and jurisdictional protection? What are the processes involved in
accessing that protection?
Acts of domestic violence against women in Indonesia are criminalized under the Law on
Domestic Violence of 2004 (Law No. 23/2004). Where a woman reports an act of domestic
violence police are required by law to “give the victim a letter to request physical or medical
examination at a hospital”; “The hospital may only send the exam results to the police, who
will then use it as evidence to follow up on the victim’s report”. 10 “Nationwide the police
operated ‘special crisis rooms’ or ‘women’s desks’ where female officers received criminal
reports from female and child victims of sexual assault and trafficking and where victims
found temporary shelter”. 11 Human rights commentators like Amnesty International and local
women’s rights networks 12 have, however, expressed concern about shortcomings in the
implementation of such laws and services and it would appear that effective state protection

7
Bataramunti, R. 2006, ‘Justice for Women?’, Inside Indonesia, July/September
http://www.insideindonesia.org/content/view/64/29/ – Accessed 18 February 2010 – Attachment 7.
8
In the same article LBH Apik, somewhat confusingly, also reported that “The number of domestic violence
cases increased three fold from 12 in 2008 to 37 last year”; it may be that LBH Apik was, in this regard,
referring to court cases or to cases lodged not with LBH Apik but with the police. The meaning is unclear, see:
‘Victims under threat of being sued back, activists say’ 2010, Jakarta Post, 7 January
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/07/victims-under-threat-being-sued-back-activists-say.html –
Accessed 19 February 2010 – Attachment 8.
9
Indonesian Working Group on the Advocacy Against Torture 2008, ‘Shadow Report Prepared for the UN
Committee against Torture in connection to its review of Indonesia’s Second Periodic Report under the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’, Association for
the Prevention of Torture website, May http://www.apt.ch/region/asiapacific/ShadowReportWGAT.pdf –
Accessed 19 February 2010 – Attachment 9.
10
“Data from Mitra Perempuan shows that of the dozens of hospitals in Greater Jakarta, only 10 have since 2007
provided free medical exams for victims of domestic violence”, see: Widhiarto, H. 2009, ‘Roll out free exams to
boost violence reporting, says NGO’, Jakarata Post, 23 December
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/12/23/roll-out-free-exams-boost-violence-reporting-says-ngo.html –
Accessed 19 February 2010 – Attachment 2.
11
US Department of State 2009, 2008 Human Rights Report: Indonesia, 25 February – Attachment 10.
12
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2007, IDN102179.E – Indonesia: Protection, services and legal
recourse available to women who are victims of domestic violence (2005-2006), 15 February
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/47d65457c.html – Accessed 19 February 2010 – Attachment 11.
cannot be expected as a general rule. It would seem that a more reliable state based solution is
for a woman to initiate divorce against the husband. Rising levels of wife initiated divorce on
matters relating to domestic violence suggest that this is a broadly viable option. 13
According to the US Department of State’s most recent report on human rights in Indonesia:
“Two types of crisis centers were available for abused women [in 2008]: government-run
centers in hospitals and NGO centers in the community”. As is noted above, however,
women’s rights groups in Indonesia have expressed concern about the effective
implementation of such mechanisms. In May 2008 the Indonesian Working Group on the
Advocacy Against Torture (WGAT) reported that that such special service rooms, while
admirable, were not sufficiently accessible:
In order to improve the protection and respect for victims of domestic violence, all cases
related to domestic violence shall be handled by Special Service Room/ Special Service
Centre mechanisms at police stations as provided by Article 13 point (a) of Law no 23 Year
2004. Through this unit, police investigators (usually are women) are specifically equipped
with investigation method which is gender sensitive, especially to deal with the victims.
However, these two mechanisms are not available at the lowest level of the police, namely
Police Sector. Moreover, financial problems have hampered the work of these mechanisms. 14
Concerns have also been expressed about the implementation of the Law on Domestic
Violence of 2004 (Law No. 23/2004). In 2006 LBH Apik praised the passing of Law No.
23/2004 for criminalizing domestic violence in Indonesia (prior to this Indonesia’s legal
edifice had considered such violence a private matter). However, LBH Apik reported that in
“most regions it seems that so far the new [Law No. 23/2004] procedures have not been
implemented”; and that: “Prosecution and conviction rates have not changed either, and the
sentences awarded to the two convictions made to date under the new law have been very
light – five months and 10 months in prison respectively”. 15 Similar concerns have been
expressed by Amnesty International, Komnas Perempuan 16 and the WGAT’s recent May
2008 study:
Referring to Committee’s List of Issues § 18, Law No. 23 Year 2004 on Domestic Violence
has yet been implemented propitiously. This is caused by the lack of procedural provisions in
its implementing arrangement, namely the Government Regulation No. 4 Year 2006 on the
Implementation and Restorative Cooperation for Victims of Violence in Household. Up to the
present, justice institution has yet [sic] put forward its initiative in adopting circular letter
[sic], which commonly used as a main reference for judges in running a trial of domestic
violence cases. 17

13
Sagita, D. 2009, ‘Domestic Violence and Infidelity Fuel Rising Divorce’, Jakarta Globe, 17 August
http://thejakartaglobe.com/news/domestic-violence-and-infidelity-fuel-rising-divorce/324513 – Accessed 19
February 2010 – Attachment 12.
14
Indonesian Working Group on the Advocacy Against Torture 2008, ‘Shadow Report Prepared for the UN
Committee against Torture in connection to its review of Indonesia’s Second Periodic Report under the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’, Association for
the Prevention of Torture website, May http://www.apt.ch/region/asiapacific/ShadowReportWGAT.pdf –
Accessed 19 February 2010 – Attachment 9.
15
Bataramunti, R. 2006, ‘Justice for Women?’, Inside Indonesia, July/September
http://www.insideindonesia.org/content/view/64/29/ – Accessed 18 February 2010 – Attachment 7.
16
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2007, IDN102179.E – Indonesia: Protection, services and legal
recourse available to women who are victims of domestic violence (2005-2006), 15 February
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/47d65457c.html – Accessed 19 February 2010 – Attachment 11.
17
Indonesian Working Group on the Advocacy Against Torture 2008, ‘Shadow Report Prepared for the UN
Committee against Torture in connection to its review of Indonesia’s Second Periodic Report under the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’, Association for
the Prevention of Torture website, May http://www.apt.ch/region/asiapacific/ShadowReportWGAT.pdf –
Accessed 19 February 2010 – Attachment 9.
LBH Apik expressed concern about the manner in which avenues of state protection may be
affected by the extent to which employees of the state see such violence as acceptable. In June
2009 LBH Apik claimed that: “of the approximately 300 reports their organization had
received by June, nearly 50 domestic abuse claims were from the wives and partners of police
officers, soldiers, lawyers, judges and public servants”. 18 Concerns have also been expressed
about the reporting procedures themselves. In December 2009 Mitra Perempuan noted that:
“A victim…must have the examination as soon as possible, because injuries more than three
days old are not legally considered evidence”; and that the expenses involved in having a
hospital examination can be an: “obstacle for women from low-income families”. 19
As is noted above, LBH Apik Director Ratna Bataramunti, in her July/September 2006 article
for Inside Indonesia, has reported major improvements in Indonesia for female victims of
domestic violence since the passing in 2004 of Law No. 23/2004. The law “outlaws four
forms of violence” against women: “physical, psychological, sexual (including marital rape),
and economic neglect”, and “has declared that domestic violence is not acceptable”, whereas
before women were “faced with a legal and social system that saw what happens in the home
between husbands and wives as a private matter”. The benefits of Law No. 23/2004 in terms
of state based protection are outlined as follows:
The new law does much at the practical level as well. Police, prosecutors and other elements
of the justice system now have defined duties in relation to reports of domestic violence. They
can no longer reject complaints on the basis that they are ‘private matters’.
But perhaps the most significant change is in the area of evidence. Under the criminal code
two witnesses are required for a conviction. How often would this be possible in a domestic
violence case? Under the new law, however, the testimony of one witness, with one other
piece of evidence, is sufficient. At last the voice of victims can mean something.
…Good news also is that some courts and legal institutions in Jakarta have begun
implementing the new, mandated procedures. 20
Even so, and as is noted above, the LBH Apik article also expresses concerns about the
limitation of certain protective measures in practice:
However, it is not all good. In most regions it seems that so far the new procedures have not
been implemented. Most courts, for example, are still demanding the testimony of two
witnesses. Prosecution and conviction rates have not changed either, and the sentences
awarded to the two convictions made to date under the new law have been very light – five
months and 10 months in prison respectively. 21
More recently, LBH Apik has claimed that women who do attempt to access the legal system
“to sue those who commit violence against them” may find that such attempts “backfire”, and
end up leading to criminal proceedings against the woman involved. “A woman may become
a domestic violence victim, and then face criminal charges in relation to the matter. When the
cases are reported, the law enforcers became reactionary,” LBH Apik told The Jakarta Post in

18
Sabarini, P. 2009, ‘Women report abuse, wind up facing charges’, Jakarta Post, 19 June
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/06/19/women-report-abuse-wind-facing-charges.html – Accessed 18
February 2010 – Attachment 13.
19
“Data from Mitra Perempuan shows that of the dozens of hospitals in Greater Jakarta, only 10 have since 2007
provided free medical exams for victims of domestic violence”, see: Widhiarto, H. 2009, ‘Roll out free exams to
boost violence reporting, says NGO’, Jakarata Post, 23 December
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/12/23/roll-out-free-exams-boost-violence-reporting-says-ngo.html –
Accessed 19 February 2010 – Attachment 2.
20
Bataramunti, R. 2006, ‘Justice for Women?’, Inside Indonesia, July/September
http://www.insideindonesia.org/content/view/64/29/ – Accessed 18 February 2010 – Attachment 7.
21
Bataramunti, R. 2006, ‘Justice for Women?’, Inside Indonesia, July/September
http://www.insideindonesia.org/content/view/64/29/ – Accessed 18 February 2010 – Attachment 7.
February 2010. 22 Figures could not be located on the estimated number of women in
Indonesia who may have been affected on charges of this kind. LBH Apik has, however, as
evidence of the significance of the problem offered figures on the extent to which domestic
violence is perpetrated by Indonesian men who are entrusted with the task of preventing such
crimes (see Attachment 13).
There has, alternatively, been much more favourable reporting about the extent to which
women in Indonesia are initiating divorce from husbands as a solution to domestic violence.
In August 2009 The Jakarta Globe reported that: “Domestic violence and extramarital affairs
are the top causes of divorce in the country, with new figures indicating the rate of broken
marriages jumped 40 percent compared to five years ago” according to figures sourced from
the Ministry of Religious Affairs. 23 BBC News has reported similarly of the rising rate at
which women initiate divorce that: “Women have a greater awareness of their rights and are
bringing more cases to court”; and that: “they are refusing to put up with domestic violence or
absent husbands”. 24

3. Are women able to initiate divorce in Indonesia? If so, what is the process?

Women are able to initiate divorce in Indonesia. “Among Muslims divorce is governed by
Muslim law and may be settled in Muslim courts or, as with non-Muslims, in government
civil courts”. 25 Where the marriage involves a Muslim couple the woman would be expected
to initiate a process known as cerai gugat. A husband initiated divorce is known as cerai
talak. It would appear that women are initiating divorce in Indonesia in significant numbers
and without complication. On 5 February 2009 the Indo-Asian News Service reported that: “In
Indonesia’s second-largest city, Surabaya, 80 percent of 48,374 recorded divorces were
initiated by women while in the capital, Jakarta, women filed 60 percent of the 5,193
divorces”. 26

Divorce in Indonesia and its procedures

The Living in Indonesia website (an information page for, and maintained by, foreign
nationals living and working in Indonesia) provides the following general introduction to
matters of divorce in Indonesia. The information is provided under the disclaimer that it has
be sourced from Asep Wijaya, Managing Director of Wijaya & Company, but should,
nonetheless, “NOT to be relied upon as legal advice”. (The source also provides information
on procedures for dissolving a marriage by annulment and, for more on this, see the
annulment section of Attachment 18).

22
‘Victims under threat of being sued back, activists say’ 2010, Jakarta Post, 7 January
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/07/victims-under-threat-being-sued-back-activists-say.html –
Accessed 18 February 2010 – Attachment 14.
23
Sagita, D. 2009, ‘Domestic Violence and Infidelity Fuel Rising Divorce’, Jakarta Globe, 17 August
http://thejakartaglobe.com/news/domestic-violence-and-infidelity-fuel-rising-divorce/324513 – Accessed 19
February 2010 – Attachment 12.
24
‘Indonesian divorce rate surges’ 2009, BBC News, 4 February http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-
pacific/7869813.stm – Accessed 9 February 2010 – Attachment 15.
25
Cunningham, C.E. 2009, ‘Indonesia – Marriage And Parenthood’, Global Dialogue Foundation, March
http://www.globaldialoguefoundation.org/files/FAM.2009-mar.Indonesia.pdf – Accessed 9 February 2010 –
Attachment 16.
26
‘Divorce rates jump in Indonesia after reforms’ 2009, Thaindian News, source: Indo-Asian News Service, 5
February http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/divorce-rates-jump-in-indonesia-after-
reforms_100151476.html – Accessed 9 February 2010 – Attachment 17.
Divorce
One of the means to dissolve a marriage is by divorce. Divorce may only be executed before a
court session, before the district court for Non-Moslems and before the religious court for
Moslems. Therefore, either one of the parties wanting to divorce needs to file a divorce
petition to the court.
The legal grounds of filing for divorce have been regulated in the Marriage Law, which are, in
the event one of the parties:
1. has committed adultery, is an alcoholic, is addicted to drugs, is a gambler or exhibits
other vices which are difficult to cure;
2. has left the other spouse for two consecutive years, without consent and without
legitimate reasons or the absence of reasons beyond his control;
3. has been sentenced to imprisonment for five (5) consecutive years or a longer period;
4. has resorted to cruelty or severe ill treatment, endangering the life of the other spouse;
5. has developed a disability or disease, preventing from fulfilling the duties of husband
or wife; or
6. has irreconcilable differences.
…Islamic Law
In Islam, a marriage may be terminated due to several reasons, namely:
1. Death of either party
2. Thalak
3. Judge’s Decision
4. Khulu
5. Li’an
6. Ila’
7. Murtad (apostate)
[1. Death] When a husband or wife passes away, their marriage is automatically terminated.
When a wife passes away, her husband doesn’t have any legal difficulties in marrying another
woman, but can remarry immediately. But, when a husband passes away, his wife has to wait
for four (4) months and 10 days before she can marry another man.
[2. Thalak] Literally, thalak means to release (abandon). Thalak or divorce is the right given to
a man and is an action of releasing a woman from the marriage. In Islam, this method of
divorce has been stipulated, but it is accompanied by the explanation from the Prophet
Mohammad that God doesn’t like divorce.
[3. Judge’s decision] Divorce through a judge’s decision may be due to several reasons, such
as, among others, that the husband is unable to provide the basic necessities of life, the
husband commits torture against his wife, the husband vanishes (being far away from or not
being near his wife), or that the husband is serving a term in prison.
Fasakh is the cancellation of marriage agreement (akad) and the termination of a marriage
between a husband and wife due to damage taking place in the marriage agreement (akad) or
due to sudden reasons that may hamper the continuation of the marriage agreement (akad). For
instance, it could be due to a problem in the family relationships. Fasakh will cause the
marriage agreement (akad) to be annulled.
[4. Khulu] Khulu’ is a divorce given by a husband to his wife with payment to the wife.
Khulu’s is required by Islam for balancing the thalak right for a husband when there is a
hatred that cannot be settled peacefully.
 [5. Li’an] A marriage may be terminated due to li’an, because the person making the li’an in
the fith oath says that God’s curse is upon him/herself if he/she is a liar. As a result of li’an,
the marriage is terminated forever. If the accusing husband denies the birth of a child by
saying that the child is not his, the child is not the offspring of this husband any longer, but
legally becomes an illegitimate child and becomes the child of accused wife. The child cannot
inherit from his/her father (the accusing husband). If the child is female, her guardian is a
judge of justice, if the child will marry someone else.
[6. Murtad] Murtad (apostate) is when a Moslem abandons Islam. If a husband or wife is
judged apostate, their marriage is terminated due to their action.
Marriage dissolution based on the grounds of thalak, li’an, and khuluk’ shall only valid in the
event they are conducted at the religious court. 27
With regard to the procedures followed where a Muslim woman chooses to undertake divorce
through a religious court, the procedures are set out as in a July 2008 report published on the
website of the International Development Law Organization (what follows is a summary, and
greater detail is available in the report itself). The process begins with the submission of “a
written or verbal request to the Religious Court or Mahkamah Syar’iyah”. The letter must
provide the
a. Name, age, occupation, religion, the place of residence of the plaintiff and the
accused/requested party.
b. Posita (the reason why somebody purses the case)
c. Petitum (expectation of what the person wants the outcome to be)
The report then lists the stages of the trial as follows:
Cerai talak and cerai gugat cases will be tried through the following steps:
1. The plaintiff/litigant registers his or her divorce application to the Religious Court or the
Mahkamah Syar’iyah.
2. The plaintiff and the accused will be called by the Religious Court/Mahkamah Syar’iyah to
attend the trial.
3. Stages in the trial:
a. In the first trial session the judge will try to ask the two parties to reconcile; the
husband and the wife have to attend the trial in person (Article 82 Law No. 7/1989)
b. If the attempt is unsuccessful, the judge will oblige the two parties to try mediation
(Article 3 Paragraph (1) PERMA No. 2/2003 on the Mediation in the Court).
c. If the mediation is unsuccessful, the examination of the case will be continued with
the reading of the law, the response, question and answer, attestation and conclusion.
In the question and answer stage (prior to the attestation) the accused can lodge a
reconvention claim (a counter law suit) (Article 132 HIR, 158 R. Bg).
The decision of the Religious Court/Mahkamah Syar’iyah on the divorce case will be on of the
following
a. The law suit/request is accepted. If the accused is not satisfied, he or she can lodge
an appeal to the Religious Court/Mahkamah Syar’iyah.
b. The law suit/request is rejected. The plaintiff/litigant can submit an appeal to the
Religious Court/Mahkamah Syar’iyah.

27
‘Divorce and Marital Dissolutions in Indonesia’ (undated), Living in Indonesia website
http://www.expat.or.id/info/divorce-marriagedissolutionindonesia.html – Accessed 19 February 2010 –
Attachment 18.
 c. The law suit/request cannot be accepted (niet on vankelijk verklaard). The plaintiff
can lodge a new law suit to the Religious Court/Mahkamah Syar’iyah after improving
the shortcomings in the first law suit that has been rejected.
4. After the request has been accepted and has obtained a permanent legal power, the
subsequent steps will follow:
a. The Religious Court/Mahkamah Syar’iyah will determine the trial day for
observing the divorce statement (ikrar talak).
b. The Religious Court/Mahkamah Syar’iyah will call the plaintiff/litigant and the
accused/requested to declare the ikrar talak.
c. If within the period of 6 (six) months from the pronouncement of the trial to witness
the ikrar talak (oral divorce announcement by the male spouse which officially ends
the marriage), the husband or his representation does not declare the ikrar talak in
front of the Court, the legal verdict will expire and divorce law suit cannot be lodged
based on the same reasons (Article 70 Paragraph (6) of Law No. 7/1989).
5. After the ikrar talak has been declared, the clerk of court has to give a divorce letter to the
two parties within at the most 7 (seven) days after the declaration of the divorce statement.
(Article 84 Paragraph (4) UU No 7/1989). In each divorce case there is always an effort to
reconcile the conflicting parties. If the reconciliation is successful, the couple can then lead a
united life again. However, although a divorce has already taken place, there is always an
opportunity to unite the separated couple. Reunification can be done if the divorce occurs
because of a divorce statement (talak), except that the divorce statement has been already been
declared three times or the talak is qobla al-dukhu (when the wife has not done sexual
intercourse with the husband). It can be done if the court decision is based on certain reasons
or reasons other than adultery and khuluk (when the wife gives the husband something in
exchange for ending the marraige) (Article 163 Paragraph (2) KHI). 28
The report also notes that: “Requests related to child custody, child allowance, wife allowance
and joint matrimonial property can be submitted along with the cerai talak application or after
the divorce statement (ikrar talak) has been said”. 29

List of Attachments
1. UN Development Fund for Women 2003, ‘Indonesia Country Profile’, A Life Free of
Violence It’s Our Right!, December http://www.unifem-
eseasia.org/resources/others/domesticviolence/PDF/Indonesia.pdf – Accessed 19
February 2010.
2. Widhiarto, H. 2009, ‘Roll out free exams to boost violence reporting, says NGO’,
Jakarata Post, 23 December http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/12/23/roll-
out-free-exams-boost-violence-reporting-says-ngo.html – Accessed 19 February 2010.
3. ‘Legislative advocacy activities: Examples’ (undated), LBH Apik website
http://www.lbh-apik.or.id/gd-legislative%20advocacy.htm – Accessed 18 February
2010.
4. Kontak’ (undated), LBH Apik website http://www.lbh-apik.or.id/kontak.htm –
Accessed 18 February 2010.

28
Hukum, A.D. 2008, ‘When Divorce Becomes the Last Resort’, International Development Law Organization,
26 July http://www.idlo.int/DocNews/254DOC.pdf – Accessed 9 February 2010 – Attachment 19.
29
Hukum, A.D. 2008, ‘When Divorce Becomes the Last Resort’, International Development Law Organization,
26 July http://www.idlo.int/DocNews/254DOC.pdf – Accessed 9 February 2010 – Attachment 19.
5. ‘APIK 2008-2011’ (undated), Oxfam Novib website
http://www.oxfamnovib.nl/id.html?lang=EN&id=PROJ_DETAIL&pid=IDO-501562-
0004447 – Accessed 18 February 2010.
6. ‘Legal Assistance and legal campaign advocacy, Indonesian Women’s Association for
Justice – LBH APIK’ (undated), Asia Development Bank website
http://www.adb.org/gender/working/ino001.asp – Accessed 18 February 2010.
7. Bataramunti, R. 2006, ‘Justice for Women?’, Inside Indonesia, July/September
http://www.insideindonesia.org/content/view/64/29/ – Accessed 18 February 2010.
8. ‘Victims under threat of being sued back, activists say’ 2010, Jakarta Post, 7 January
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/07/victims-under-threat-being-sued-
back-activists-say.html – Accessed 19 February 2010.
9. Indonesian Working Group on the Advocacy Against Torture 2008, ‘Shadow Report
Prepared for the UN Committee against Torture in connection to its review of
Indonesia’s Second Periodic Report under the Convention against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’, Association for the
Prevention of Torture website, May
http://www.apt.ch/region/asiapacific/ShadowReportWGAT.pdf – Accessed 19
February 2010.
10. US Department of State 2009, 2008 Human Rights Report: Indonesia, 25 February.
11. Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2007, IDN102179.E – Indonesia:
Protection, services and legal recourse available to women who are victims of
domestic violence (2005-2006), 15 February
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/47d65457c.html – Accessed 19 February 2010.
12. Sagita, D. 2009, ‘Domestic Violence and Infidelity Fuel Rising Divorce’, Jakarta
Globe, 17 August http://thejakartaglobe.com/news/domestic-violence-and-infidelity-
fuel-rising-divorce/324513 – Accessed 19 February 2010.
13. Sabarini, P. 2009, ‘Women report abuse, wind up facing charges’, Jakarta Post, 19
June http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/06/19/women-report-abuse-wind-
facing-charges.html – Accessed 18 February 2010.
14. ‘Victims under threat of being sued back, activists say’, Jakarta Post, 7 January
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/07/victims-under-threat-being-sued-
back-activists-say.html – Accessed 18 February 2010.
15. ‘Indonesian divorce rate surges’ 2009, BBC News, 4 February
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7869813.stm – Accessed 9 February 2010.
16. Cunningham, C.E. 2009, ‘Indonesia – Marriage And Parenthood’, Global Dialogue
Foundation, March http://www.globaldialoguefoundation.org/files/FAM.2009-
mar.Indonesia.pdf – Accessed 9 February 2010.
17. ‘Divorce rates jump in Indonesia after reforms’ 2009, Thaindian News, source: Indo-
Asian News Service, 5 February
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/divorce-rates-jump-in-indonesia-
after-reforms_100151476.html – Accessed 9 February 2010.
18. ‘Divorce and Marital Dissolutions in Indonesia’ (undated), Living in Indonesia
website http://www.expat.or.id/info/divorce-marriagedissolutionindonesia.html –
Accessed 19 February 2010.
19. Hukum, A.D. 2008, ‘When Divorce Becomes the Last Resort’, International
Development Law Organization, 26 July http://www.idlo.int/DocNews/254DOC.pdf –
Accessed 9 February 2010.