The most interesting thing was that many of them had divorced because of political differences.
Bandarlampung, Lampung (ANTARA News) - The divorce rate in Indonesia since the start of the reform era has risen by 300 percent, a religious affairs official said.

"The number of divorces is rising because of diverse reasons from principal to trivial ones. And many divorces happened during legislative and regional head elections," the director general of Islam community guidance, Nazaruddin Umar, said at the 16th Congress of the Muslimat NU here on Friday.

Muslimat NU is the women`s wing of one of the country`s largest Islamic organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama.

Nazaruddin said many divorcees were from young married couples but the most interesting thing was that many of them had divorced because of political differences.

He said the biggest and significant problems faced by the Indonesian people are family problems.

In view of that he said NU women needed to play a bigger role to campaign on the importance of preserving marriage.

"In the current reform era the number of couples seeking divorce reaches two millions a year and 200 of them really end up in divorce," he said.

He said the number is spectacular and require serious attention from the government especially the ministry of religious affairs.

"The biggest contributor to the rate of divorce is young couples," he said.

To reduce the number the government has issued a policy to require a couple to get a pre-wedding training certificate before they tie the knot.

"The program happens to be under his office`s authority. And therefore at this meeting I wish to mandate Muslimat NU to participate in providing guidance for couples wishing to get married," he said.

Muslimat NU is a social and religious organization aiming to improve the role and respect of women in the country through various programs including economic and educational programs and religious propagation.

Muslimat NU is holding the congress to name its new leaders for 2011 to 2015 and make annual working programs.

Around 3,000 participants took part in the congress opened by Vice President Boediono on Wednesday, including participants from Britain, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.
(ANT-050)

Editor: Ella Syafputri
Copyright © ANTARA 2011