"The law already exists, and we can strengthen education on the religious approach to avoid early marriage," he stated in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) had earlier noted that throughout 2021, some 59,709 cases of early marriage were granted dispensation by courts.
This figure decreased slightly as compared to 64,211 cases in 2020. However, this figure was still very high as compared to 23,126 child marriages in 2019.
Marriage dispensation is an allowance or relief provided by religious courts to prospective brides and grooms, who are not yet 19 years of age to get married. This is regulated in Law (UU) Number 16 of 2019 on Amendments to Law Number 1 of 1974 concerning Marriage.
"Actually, the government has tried to prevent child marriages from occurring with the law because there are many negative consequences, such as stunting, poverty, child mortality, and maternal deaths," he remarked.
The vice president pointed out that no ban on child marriage in religion was one of the reasons for child marriage in Indonesia.
"(It is) because there is no prohibition in the religion, so we must educate the public through the religious approach. Early marriage is not prohibited by the religion, but it is harmful and not beneficial," he stated.
Data from the Surabaya Religious High Court, East Java Province, shows that the number of applications for marriage dispensation in the province in 2022 had reached 15,212.
Meanwhile, Head of Representative for the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) for East Java Province Maria Ernawati stated that of the 15,212 requests for marriage dispensation, 80 percent were due to pregnancy before marriage and the other 20 percent were due to arranged marriages on account of economic factors.
In particular, 191 cases of requests for marriage dispensation were made to the Ponorogo District Religious Court (PA).
Of these cases, the court had agreed on 176 cases. Some 66 cases were due to dating, 115 cases on account of pregnancy before marriage, and the other 10 cases were due to giving birth before marriage.
Meanwhile, Bandung Religious Court (PA) in West Java recorded 143 requests for marriage dispensation in 2022. This figure was also lower than the previous year, specifically 193 cases in 2021 and 219 cases in 2020.
Most of the reasons for marriage dispensation pertained to pregnancy before marriage at the age of 17-18 years, although there were also those under the age of 16, who dropped out of elementary or junior high school.
In accordance with Law Number 16 of 2019 concerning Amendments to Law Number 1 of 1974 concerning Marriage, Article 7, paragraph (1) states that marriage can only be permitted if a man and a woman have reached the age of 19.
This means that both men and women, who are not yet 19 years old and want to get married, must ask for a dispensation from marriage to the Religious Court.
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Translator: Desca Lidya N, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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