http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/04/15/wives-with-foreign-spouses-want-change-land-laws.html
Wives with foreign spouses want to change land laws Hans Nicholas Jong, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Mon, April 15 2013, 10:30 AM A- A A+ Paper Edition | Page: 5 Activists say they want the government to amend the Marriage and Agrarian Laws to ensure that Indonesian women do not lose their rights to own real property after marrying foreigners. Rulita Anggraini of the Indonesian Mixed-Marriage Society (PerCa) said that Article 23 of the 1960 Agrarian Law had caused the biggest problems for mixed marriages. “The article has been a spectre for mixed-marriage couples in Indonesia.” The article stipulated that all foreigners owning property at the time the law was enacted, whether inherited or purchased, had to sell the property within one year. The problem was compounded by Law No. 1/1974 on marriage, Rita said, which stipulated that all real property purchased after an Indonesian woman’s marriage to a foreigner would be “mixed” wealth. No regulations have been issued to implement the article, including a clear definition on “mixed” wealth, creating problems for Indonesian women with foreign husbands, who can lose their right to own real property, as the government would not recognize their individual ownership without a prenuptial agreement. Melva Nababan, the chairwoman of PerCa, said that current laws clearly harmed Indonesian women who married without signing prenuptial agreements that upheld their rights to own property in their own names. “Our status is still as Indonesian citizens, but why don’t we have equal rights?” The injustice against mixed marriages has persisted, despite Article 28 of the 1945 Constitution, which guarantees women equal rights, Melva added. “We agree that foreigners should not be allowed to own real property, but the restriction should not be imposed on their Indonesian spouses just because there are no prenuptial agreements.” Out of ignorance, many Indonesian women with foreign husbands have failed to sign such prenuptial agreements — which need only cover their property rights, as opposed to more detailed agreements common in the West — leaving them to look for loopholes when it comes time to buy a house, an apartment or land. Some have resorted to questionable measures, such as making purchases using fake ID cards, or risky purchases, such as buying real property using their relatives’ names, according to Rulita. Separately, former Constitutional Court chief justice Jimly Asshiddiqie, proposed that Indonesian women should seek to set a precedent and to change the system in court. “They can go to court and ask it to grant them a decision which would allow them to separate the ownerships between husband and wives,” he said. Rulita, herself married to a foreigner, said that she had followed Jimly’s advice and was recently granted by the rights to purchase property in her own name. “I was able to get a five-year mortgage from a bank after the court decision. Prior to that, I could not even get my inheritance, just because I did not have a prenup,” Rulita said. Jimly called on the government to issue supporting regulations on the 1974 Marriage Law. “While the law is also needs to be revised since it has been outdated, the fastest way to improve the current condition is to have regulations to support the existing law, especially ones on ‘mixed’ wealth,” Jimly said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
