JAKARTA -- Indonesia's constitutional court on Wednesday rejected a high-profile request to scrap restrictions on polygamy filed by a lawyer who argued that it ran counter to the teachings of Islam.
"We reject the demand of the plaintiff," constitutional court chairman Jimly Asshiddiqie said, reading the verdict in a case that has grabbed headlines and stoked debate across Indonesia.
He said polygamy was permitted under the law, but only under strict conditions.
Muhammad Isan, who filed the demand, had argued that the restrictions on polygamy effectively encouraged extra-marital affairs, prostitution and divorce, and said polygamy was justified by a higher ratio of women to men.
But the court said "the arguments presented by the plaintiff do not stand."
Asshiddiqie said polygamy had existed long before Islam came into being and religious authorities, he said, had gradually seen to it that polygamy did not lead to men tyrannizing women.
"One of the most important requirements is fairness," he said, adding that it was the duty of the government to step in and apply regulations and laws.
Any increase in divorce, prostitution and extra-marital affairs was "not merely related to whether there is polygamy or not, but also related to the socio-economic conditions of individuals, and more importantly, the morals and ethics of the said individuals," Asshiddiqie said.
The court also cited official data showing that men in fact accounted for around 50.2 percent of Indonesia's population, the world's fourth largest.
Isan told journalists he was disappointed in the outcome, which under Indonesian law cannot be appealed.
Islam permits up to four wives but some mostly Muslim nations such as Tunisia have banned polygamy.
Polygamy for men is permitted in Indonesia if a wife can no longer "perform her duties", is an invalid, suffers from an incurable disease, or is infertile. Approval to take another wife must also be obtained from a religious court and from the first wife. Government officials must also obtain permission from their immediate superior to engage in polygamy.
More than 90 percent of Indonesia's population is Muslim but most follow a moderate version of the faith.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Dialogue with Professor Muhammad Yunus
Prof Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize awardee had a 3 hour discussion with the heads of UN agencies, NGOs and the Media in Indonesia held in the UN Building last August 10, 2007. He is in Jakarta on a five-day state visit at the invitation of the President of Indonesia. 
Prof Yunus shared with us his story of the Grameen Bank--how he started with US$27 as the lending seed money from his pocket which has grown to US$6 billion--how a very simple initiative expanded from 42 women in one village to some 7 million in 78,000 villages then to some 37 countries. It was an amazing story and he is a great speaker---people were really moved by his story. He is now advocating for business for social cause and not just for profit. He thinks that this is the way we can achieve the MDGs and beyond and make them sustainable. He also answered some interesting questions from the audience. One such question was why Grameen Bank interest money should not be considered 'sin' as per Islamic interpretation? He said that the Grameen Bank is owned by the borrower themselves; so how can it be a 'sin for the people who are paying interest to themselves to sustain the programme'?
Another interesting phenomenon he revealed that each of the Grameen Bank branch is established without any seed money. The branch managers are given a village to choose and then they ask the villagers if they want a bank in that village or not. If they want, they are asked to deposit their share and the bank manager is given one year time to reach a break-even point. All running cost, including the salary of the manager comes from the profits (interest) earned. The Bank has not borrowed any money from any donors since 1995.
Prof Yunus said that now he is also focusing on health issues because he believes that ill health and the cost of health care is one of the major barriers to overcome poverty.
written by: Zahid Huque
UNFPA Representative
Jakarta, Indonesia
Read more about GRAMEEN BANK and Prof. Yunus here.
Monday, August 6, 2007
GM crops can help achieve UN Millenium Dev’t Goals
Culled from The Philippine Star
By Rudy A. Fernandez
Sunday, August 5, 2007
JAKARTA — Genetically modified (GM) crops can help humankind attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) set by the United Nations, it was asserted here recently by an internationally known research administrator.
“By far, the most important potential contribution of biotech crops will be their contribution to the humanitarian Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty and hunger by 50 percent by 2015,” stressed Dr. Clive James, founder and president of the International Services for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).
His forum was an international symposium on biotechnology held at the Indonesian Department of Agriculture in this capital city organized by Indonesian biotechnology entities.
The symposium was supported by the Indonesian Biotechnology Consortium, Indonesian Biotechnology Student Forum, Indonesia-based Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Center for Tropical Biology (SEAMEO-BIOTROP), and ISAAA.
The participants included scientists, researchers, members of the academe, industry, and media practitioners, among them this writer.
The UN Millennium Development Goals form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions.
Eight goals have been identified and set to be accomplished by 2015.
First in the list of the eight MDGs is the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, followed by achievement of universal primary education.
The others are promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development.
Dr. James pointed out that the rapid growth of the world population continues to spawn problems of global dimension, particularly poverty and hunger.
As of 1999, he said, the world’s population hit the six billion mark. By 2050, there shall be nine billion people inhabiting planet earth.
Against the grim backdrop of population explosion is the diminution of crop lands.
By Rudy A. Fernandez
Sunday, August 5, 2007
JAKARTA — Genetically modified (GM) crops can help humankind attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) set by the United Nations, it was asserted here recently by an internationally known research administrator.
“By far, the most important potential contribution of biotech crops will be their contribution to the humanitarian Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty and hunger by 50 percent by 2015,” stressed Dr. Clive James, founder and president of the International Services for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).
His forum was an international symposium on biotechnology held at the Indonesian Department of Agriculture in this capital city organized by Indonesian biotechnology entities.
The symposium was supported by the Indonesian Biotechnology Consortium, Indonesian Biotechnology Student Forum, Indonesia-based Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Center for Tropical Biology (SEAMEO-BIOTROP), and ISAAA.
The participants included scientists, researchers, members of the academe, industry, and media practitioners, among them this writer.
The UN Millennium Development Goals form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions.
Eight goals have been identified and set to be accomplished by 2015.
First in the list of the eight MDGs is the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, followed by achievement of universal primary education.
The others are promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development.
Dr. James pointed out that the rapid growth of the world population continues to spawn problems of global dimension, particularly poverty and hunger.
As of 1999, he said, the world’s population hit the six billion mark. By 2050, there shall be nine billion people inhabiting planet earth.
Against the grim backdrop of population explosion is the diminution of crop lands.
Continue reading the article here.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Narrowing the GAP between the rich and the poor
How did Indonesia narrow the poor rich gap in the use of the delivery services by professional attendants?
A recent study conducted by IMMPACT demonstrated that deployment of large number of village midwives (Bidan di desa) during 1991-97 in Indonesia resulted in major increase in the attendance of deliveries by medically trained professionals. The most remarkable finding is that the women of the lowest 40 percent of economic status received much of the benefits from this intervention. However, life saving intervention, like Caesarean Section still remains very low among the poor people. (Laurel et al. 2006)
A recent study conducted by IMMPACT demonstrated that deployment of large number of village midwives (Bidan di desa) during 1991-97 in Indonesia resulted in major increase in the attendance of deliveries by medically trained professionals. The most remarkable finding is that the women of the lowest 40 percent of economic status received much of the benefits from this intervention. However, life saving intervention, like Caesarean Section still remains very low among the poor people. (Laurel et al. 2006)
How many are poor in Indonesia?
The number of poor people currently living in Indonesia varies depending on the definition we use. According the Ministry of National Development Planning (BAPPENAS) there were 39 Million People living below the national poverty line in 2006. This number increases to 116 Million if the poverty line is set at US$2 day. However, the number of poor is only 16 Million if the poverty line is considered at US$1/day.
The government aims to reduce the number of people living below the national poverty line to 18.8 Million by 2009.
Note: The methodology for estimatiing the number of poor using the national poverty line was changed in 1996.
The government aims to reduce the number of people living below the national poverty line to 18.8 Million by 2009.
Note: The methodology for estimatiing the number of poor using the national poverty line was changed in 1996.
Micro-credit
Does micro-credit help empower women?
How does micro-credit improve access of women to reproductive health services and information?
Does conditional cash transfer work for increased access to reproductive health services?
How does micro-credit improve access of women to reproductive health services and information?
Does conditional cash transfer work for increased access to reproductive health services?
Pro-poor
What is pro-poor economic growth?
Currently two school of thoughts dominate the literature:
Currently two school of thoughts dominate the literature:
The first school of thought define pro-poor growth as any distributional shifts in economic growth that favors the poor, i.e., poverty falls more than it would have if all incomes had grown at the same rate (Baulch & McCullock 2000; Kakwani & Pernia 2000).
The second school of thought argues that a 'growth is said to be 'pro-poor' if and only if poor people benefit in absolute terms, as reflected in an appropriate measure of poverty." (Ravallion and Chen 2003)
For details, please see the following articles:
Baulch, Robert and Neil McCulloch (2000), ‘Tracking pro-poor growth.’ ID21 insights No. 31. Sussex: Institute of Development Studies.
Kakwani, Nanak and E. Pernia, (2000),'What Is Pro-Poor Growth?’ Asian Development Review. 18(1): 1-16. Ravallion, Martin and Chen, Shaohua (2003), ‘Measuring Pro-Poor Growth,’ Economics Letters, 78(1), 93-99.
What interventions can help pro-poor growth?
What evidence do we have?
Monday, May 7, 2007
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