Emergency Condition of Divorce
Measuring the Resilience of Muslim Indonesian Families in Facing the Threat of
Divorce
Ramdani Wahyu Sururie, Oyo Sunaryo Mukhlas, Khoirul Aziz, Ikhwan Aulia Fatahillah, and
Dadang Syaripudin
UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, Jl. A. H. Nasution 105, Bandung, Indonesia
Keywords: Marriage, Religious Courts, Children Rights.
Abstract: Divorce of Muslim families in positive law in Indonesia can only be done in religious courts. The increasing
number of divorcees each year is the issue of this research, especially to describe whether there is a chance
for a religious court to facilitate divorce in Indonesia, analyze the root causes of divorce, and formulate
effective strategies to prevent it. This research used a descriptive method of analysis that describes and
interprets data from court archives and interview. The data shows that religious courts normatively complicate
the occurrence of divorce, but empirically there is convenience because there is a default judgment (verstek)
and divorce lawsuit by husband and wife. The strategy of sustaining marriage is done before marriage through
marital guidance and at the time of marriage through a mediation group in the community that can be exploited
by a husband and wife in conflict so that the divorce rate can be reduced.
1 INTRODUCTION
Indonesia as the largest Muslim country in the world
faces many challenges and threats in politics, social
as well as culture. In the social field, there has been a
serious threat, one of which is high divorce rates. This
high divorce rate leads to the fragility of marital ties
within the family whereas the strength of a nation is
determined by the resilience of the family because a
solid family is a development capital of a nation. One
form of family resilience is the toughness in facing
the family problems faced by husband and wife so as
not to damage the bonds of marriage between the two.
Since the last five years, there has been a decrease in
the resilience of marriage bonds among Muslim
families in Indonesia due to the high rate of divorce.
Divorce is like a shortcut that solves all problems.
Harmony in the household that became the pillar of
family resilience can easily be shaken by disputes
between husband and wife.
The statistical data released by the Central Bureau
of Statistics (BPS) from 2012-2015 shows the number
of divorces increasing rapidly. This data is a
collection of the Director General of the Islamic
Guidance of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and
Directorate General of Religious Courts for the last
three years compiled by BPS.
The data shows that the number of married people
in 2012 was very high compared to the following
years. But, the divorce rate in 2015 was higher than
the previous year. Marriage and divorce rates
decreased in 2013, but increased in 2014 and 2015. In
line with the data, the age of married couples are at
the age of 30-40 years. This has a serious impact on
parenting because in general at that age it is assumed
they have children at the age of 0-15 years.
2 METHOD
This study used a descriptive method of analysis to
the problem of divorce that occurred in the Muslim
family in Indonesia. Descriptive research is a research
method that tries to describe and interpret the object
as it is. This research is also often called non-
experiment as the researchers did not control and
manipulate research variables. The study was
conducted in six courts located in several major cities
in Indonesia.
Sururie, R., Mukhlas, O., Aziz, K., Fatahillah, I. and Syaripudin, D.
Emergency Condition of Divorce - Measuring the Resilience of Muslim Indonesian Families in Facing the Threat of Divorce.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education (ICSE 2017) - Volume 2, pages 25-28
ISBN: 978-989-758-316-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
25

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Contribution of Religious Courts to
Opportunities for Divorce
The Religious Court is one of the judicial authorities
for the Muslim justice seekers on a particular case.
One of the cases that becomes the jurisdiction of the
religious courts is to examine, hear and decide upon
marital disputes. The various marital disputes in
religious courts are more dominated by divorce
whose numbers are increasing every year.
The number of divorce cases that were decided by
religious courts and syar'iyyah courts increased every
year from 2001-2015 by 180% from 159,299 cases to
445,568. The significant increase occurred in 2006
which was 166% while the period 2001 s, d, 20016
only 5% increase (n.d.: 2016).
The Muslim family divorce trends occur because
the wife sues a divorce to a religious court. During
2001-2014, the increasing number of divorce cases
demanded by husbands was 85% while the increase
in divorce cases demanded by the wife was 222%.
The high percentage of divorce rate requested by the
wife compared to the divorce number requested by
husband based on data above was 71.9% and 27.1%.
This high difference is interesting for the study,
particularly to investigate the "courage" of women to
request for divorce.
The important question of the above data is
actually addressed to the religious court. Do religious
courts have a stake to make divorce easier or not? The
answer to this question can be traced normatively and
empirically about the process of examining divorce
cases in religious courts.
Normatively, marriage laws and all of its
derivatives complicate divorce. The principle of
complicating divorce is a legal principle contained in
the general explanation of Law No. 1 of 1974 on
marriage points 4e which says that in principle this
Marriage Law adheres to the principle of
complicating divorce. If it is associated with divorce
to be done in court then, indirectly this principle is
also contained in Article 39 of the Marriage Law and
Article 65 of Law Number 7 Year 1989 on Religious
Courts. Both articles say that the divorce must be
done before the court.
The application of the article on the principle of
complicating divorce is described in Article 31 of the
Government's Government. No. 9 of 1975 on the
Implementation of Law No. 1 of 1974 on Marriage.
The article states that a judge in a divorce hearing is
required to reconcile both parties as long as the
examination has not been decided. Also in article 115
of the Presidential Instruction No. 1 of 1991 on the
Compilation of Islamic Law also states that divorce
should be conducted before the court in the Religious
Courts, and the divorce decisions can be made after
the Religious Courts fail to reconcile the parties.
The application of the principle of complicating
divorce in religious court is the conclusion of the
study conducted by Hasyim (2015) in Religious
Courts in Semarang City. The principle of
complicating divorce is through a variety of doors,
namely maximizing mediation, involvement of
judges, granting divorce if supported by valid
evidence, and if successfully reconciled in court the
case is revoked.
Empirically, the law of marriage and religious
court law also provides an easy chance for divorce so
that married couples can make many choices, such as
the mechanism of verstek (default judgement) in the
examination of the case. Persons who do not arrive
after being appropriately and officially called will be
readily examined with verstek. In addition, in general,
husband and wife when deciding divorce has agreed
in advance so that a faster way to check the case will
be taken in religious court. Verstek is used by married
couples as a way of speeding up divorce checks.
In addition to using verstek, the process of
examination through the divorce requested by the
wife more effective and efficient rather than divorce
is requested by the husband. Divorce requested by the
wife was more effective in terms of examination time
and efficient in terms of cost. In Religious Court in
Cimahi City the divorce process requested by the wife
spends two months and costs cheaper while the
divorce requested by the husband takes three months
with higher cost (Hamdadin: 2015).
3.2 The Causes of Husband and Wife's
Problems in Muslim Family
Divorce
Economic reasons are the main cause for divorce in
Indramayu District by 2013. A woman's profession in
Indramayu Regency in 2013 may affect the
occurrence of divorce. A wife who has a profession
of labor has a tendency to divorce higher (Jamil and
Fakhrudin: 2015).
In Lampung City, the main reason for divorce is
polygamy, moral crisis, jealousy, economy, lack of
responsibility, third party interference and
disharmony in the family. The largest percentage of
ICSE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education
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divorce reasons was lack of harmony at 34% of the
27 divorce cases conducted by highly educated
couples (Nunung: 2011).
The triggers of divorce in Mataram were
economic factors (40%), moral factors (25%),
domestic violence (10%), education factor (10%) and
third party intervention factor (5%).
The dominant factors that caused divorce in
Bungo District were disputes (380 cases) and lack of
responsibility (842 cases). The percentage of divorce
was lack of harmony (31.05%), lack of responsibility
(68.46%), economy (0.32%), maltreatment (0.08%)
and imprisoned husband (0.08%) (Bahtiar: 2009).
3.3 Effective Strategies to Strengthen
the Resilience of Marriage in
Muslim Families
The effort to save a family that is not harmonious,
both legally and socially, is the responsibility of all
parties. This peace effort is important to reduce the
number of divorce rates.
First, in the trial process, judges in religious
courts are required to make a maximum peace effort
not merely a formality. If peace succeeds, the judge
creates a Deed of Peace that has the power of a
decision. However, if not successful then proceed at
the next stage of the trial.
Second, it is important to maximize the mediating
institutions. In general, married couples do not know
that prior to the Religious Courts, marriage conflicts
should be resolved through a mediating body. The
couple did not have sufficient information about the
mediation institution. In the future, the marriage
certificate should include the addresses of mediation
institutions that can be used by married couples to
resolve their conflicts.
Thirdly, Supreme Court Regulation No. 1 of 2016
concerning mediation procedures in the court states
that the mediator may be from within or outside the
court (Article 4 paragraph 1), judges and non-judges.
This reinforces the spread of mediation institutions
developed by communities and even universities that
perform the function of mediating and facilitating
family conflicts in order to be able to suppress divorce
rates. The emergence of mediation institutions in the
community will increase the chances of mediation
that can play a role in reducing the rate of divorce.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the above description, the Religious Courts
contribute to the possibility of divorce. Juridical,
legislation provides the principle of complicating
divorce so that judges can facilitate the examination
of the divorce with justified reasons. In addition, this
law provides space for the parties (husbands and
wives) to facilitate divorce, either through the case of
verstek or done by applying for a divorce which is felt
to be very effective and efficient.
Secondly, the root of the issue of divorce of
married couples in Muslim families varies greatly in
several major cities in Indonesia. The root of the
problem can be seen in terms of education level, age
of husband and wife and child age. The root of the
problem affects the reasons couples make divorce.
Third, an effective strategy to strengthen the
resilience of marriage bonds within the Muslim
family can be done in the pre-marital stage, during
marriage and during marital conflicts. In the pre
marriage stage prospective married couples need to
get marital guidance that can be integrated in the
college curriculum or also involving other institutions
such as the Office of Religious Affairs.
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