Family Resilience Bill Set due to High Divorce Rate: Initiator

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The initiator of the draft on family resilience from the PAN faction, Ali Taher, explained that the high divorce rate was among the drivers of the bill proposal. According to him, there were 150-300 cases of marriage separation in the averaged regency.

He considered the controversy over the bill was reasonable. “This social fact shows the fragility of this objective condition in the marriage world,” said Ali at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Wednesday, February 19.

Ali said that separation might cause the child custody issue and threaten the future of children and family so that the government must take an intervention.

The PAN politician reiterated that the economic factor was the main reason for divorce following many unemployed people and layoffs that resulted in a high living burden. “The other reason is that they cannot fulfill their living cost. Affairs and having another marriage are among the reasons, too,” Ali said.

He asserted that those issues showed the frail trend of families, let alone early divorce. “The bill is necessary to be passed so that it can be an alternative solution to social problems faced by families."

As widely reported, the family resilience bill was promoted by Ali Taher, Ledia Hanifa and Netty Prasetiyani from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and Sodik Mudjahid from Gerindra. Since it was first introduced, the bill sparked public controversy as many people thought its articles regulate private matters. The Golkar faction recently withdrew its support for the bill.

HALIDA BUNGA