Buying Love For RM181,500

According to news reports, Indonesia intends to demand a $55,000 (approximately RM181,500) "security guarantee" from foreign men who marry Indonesian women.

The money is to be paid into a bank before the couple can get married. This is part of marriage law reform by Muslim conservatives in the country.

The proposed provision, however, only applies foreign men wishing to wed Muslim women. This will not apply to Christians, Buddhists or Hindus Indonesian women.

Should the couple divorce within 9 years, the wife will be entitled to the money. If the couple remain married for at least 10 years, they have equal claim to it.

The provision is clearly to protect the rights of the women and their children.

Some Indonesian Muslim women threaten to leave the country and marry their foreign boyfriends overseas if such law if enacted.

According to the an Indonesian government official, the guarantee is designed, among other things, to stop foreigners entering fake marriages or marriages of convenience in order to set up businesses or buy property in their wives' names, and to ensure that women are financially secured against divorce.

A lot of Indonesian women are against this law as they are of the opinion that it turns women into a commodity. They still believe in true love.

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