There are many surprising traditions related to marriage around the world, which are surprising to know. Some of these traditions are centuries old, while some are completely new and are just a means of earning money. Today we are going to tell about one such surprising trend, which shows that when social crisis and economic crisis are at their peak, the weaker sections of the society, especially women, have to bear the brunt of it. The case is of Indonesia, where foreigners who come to visit marry just for the sake of money, which is locally called ‘Mut’ah Nikah’ or ‘Pleasure Marriage’. Under this practice, foreign tourists come to Indonesia and contract with local poor girls to live as part-time ‘wives’ for a few days.
Most of the women whom foreigners marry are facing livelihood crisis amid poverty. In such a situation, the money received in the name of contract marriage is very useful for their family. But this gain comes at the cost of their physical, mental and emotional exploitation. Most of the men who make these women part-time wives are from Middle-East countries, who ‘marry’ local girls for a few days and give a huge amount of money in exchange for living together. As soon as their leave ends, the ‘marriage’ also ends and the men return to their country. From many social and religious viewpoints this practice is considered a terrible form of poverty and exploitation of women. This is clearly a systematic business, where the compulsions of women are sold.
This ‘temporary marriage’ business is often run in an organized manner with the help of local agents and brokers. There are many such ‘few day marriages’ in the Puncak region of Indonesia, where women sign contracts with foreign men for 10 to 20 days. Some agents here claim to organize 20 to 25 ‘pleasure marriages’ in a month. These agents usually lure financially constrained women for such marriages and bring them in contact with men. Once the contract is signed the relationship ends within a few days in exchange for money. A girl gets around ₹32,000 to ₹41,000 from each ‘marriage’, which is an important means of survival for their poor families. However, a large part of this earning goes into the pockets of agents. At the same time, some part is deducted in the name of ‘legal’ procedures at the local level.
Forced into contract marriage?
A young woman named ‘Chahaya’ (name changed) shared her painful experience and said that she was first forced into such a marriage when she was only 13 years old. After that, she continued to become the ‘part-time wife’ of many men one after the other. She told that till now she has been ‘married’ 15 times. Every time she had to live as his wife during the contract period. He also received money, but he said that the mental pain, physical torture and humiliation he had to endure in return was unbearable.
What is ‘Mut’a Nikah’ i.e. Pleasure Marriage?
This ‘Mut’a Nikah’ is a type of temporary marriage contract, which has been prevalent among some Islamic groups. The duration of this marriage is fixed, which can range from one hour to several years. However, Indonesian law does not recognize this practice, as it is contrary to the basic religious and social concept of a permanent relationship. Many Islamic scholars also consider this practice immoral and tantamount to prostitution, which is causing a deep social and religious crisis in Indonesian society. Even if this exploitative system brings little benefit to the local economy, it is grossly violating the human rights of poor women and exploiting them socially.
