The Socio-legal Study Related to the Increase of Divorce Case

Number in Medan

Eko Yudhistira

, Zulfi Chairi

and Rosnidar Sembiring

Faculty of Law, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Jl. Universitas No 4 Kampus USU, Medan, Indonesia

Keywords: Marriage, Divorce, Mediation, Reason, Meaning of Marriage

Abstract: Every year The Religious Court of Medan has high number of divorce case. Its proven based on the data that

the court has from January 2016 until June 2018 there are 7.443 case of divorce. 1.618 cases were initiated

by men and the rest were initiated by women. With the result there were 5.362 cases which are approved by

the court, 36 cases were rejected, and 100 cases were refused to be gone into the trial process. Furthermore

there were 145 cases fall and 19 cases were succeed to be solved through the mediation process. the number

of case that solved in the mediation process is low. There are also a lot of people who only know the

theoretically meaning of marriage. But in the other hand they don’t know the essential meaning of marriage.

Based on this its hard for us to achieve the goal of Indonesian Marriage Law to create an eternal love and

relationship between husband and wife as a complete family. In the current condition there are many reasons

which used by people to have divorce. Some of the reasons are not being acknowledged by the marriage law,

and some of them are being acknowledged.

1 INTRODUCTION

Human is a social being (zoon politicon) which means

human always walk together with other human in

their society life. Life together in society is on of

usual indication for human and only certain human

who have special need able to live alone in this world.

One form of live together as a group is family. A

family consists of parents and children which formed

because of the marriage.

Marriage is one important dimension in human

life which become a strong and deep bond to connect

a man and a woman to form a family or household.

Because the importance of marriage not surprisingly

that many religions, traditions and culture or even

government create regulation of marriage in society

life.

The government of Republic of Indonesia has had

a law to regulate marriage in Indonesia. This law also

cater the principles and give a base of marriage law

which become orientation and obtain for all layer of

society. The Indonesian Marriage Law named Act

Number 1 1994 about Marriage which known as

UUP.

Based on the UUP, marriage means there is

physical and spiritual bond between a man (husband)

and a woman (wife). The definition of marriage in

Islamic point of view is different with private law

(KUHPerdata) point of view. Marriage in Islamic

point of view has a scared value as a form of religious

service. But even though marriage has a sacred value

and also form of religious services, Farid Ismail the

secretary of Badilag in a focus group discussion at the

Indonesian Vice President Secretariat office said that

we can negate the fact that the number of divorce case

in Indonesia is increasing year by year. In the other

side if we using the research of Mark Cammack one

of South western School of Law Professor in 1950,

the number of divorce case in southeast asia including

Indonesia is one of the highest in the world. In that

decade, 50 out of 100 marriage is ended by divorce

but in 1970-1990 the number of divorce case in

Indonesia decrease significantly and back to increase

since 2001 until 2009. Based on the Direktorat

Jendral Badan peradilan Agama data in 2009 the

number of divorce case by man is 28,76%, 57,89%

divorce case is initiated by woman and the rest

13,35% is the other type of divorce case.

Divorce also being recognized by the act number

1 1974 about marriage in article 30 and 199. But one

principal in Indonesia National Marriage Law is to

make the procedure of divorce become more difficult.

This is because the government of Republic of

1716

Yudhistira, E., Chairi, Z. and Sembiring, R.

The Socio-legal Study Related to the Increase of Divorce Case Number in Medan.

DOI: 10.5220/0010096317161719

In Proceedings of the International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches (ICOSTEERR 2018) - Research in Industry 4.0, pages

1716-1719

ISBN: 978-989-758-449-7

Indonesia want to reduce or prevent the divorce

which contradict with the Indonesia Marriage Law

purpose.

The degradation of social values which is

happening in Indonesian society makes the number of

divorce case increase and become higher than before.

Because of the social development there is a mutation

of reasons of divorce. In many cases the court

approve the divorce proposal with reasons which are

not in Indonesia Marriage law.

In the court process the existence of mediation as

an attempt to prevent divorce is so important.

Furthermore the role of mediator in trial process is

also important to make the husband and wife who

want to have a divorce to re-think again about their

plan to have a divorce. The role of mediator is

expected to manage and create a win-win solution to

solve the husband and wife problem so the husband

and wife agree to not have a divorce. But if we see the

number of divorce case which is increasing constantly

we can assume that the government purpose to

suppress the number of divorce case is not success.

Although marriage is seen as physical and

spiritual bond between the husband and wife, there is

still high number of divorce case which basically

contradict to the definition and the purpose of the

marriage itself. The following questions will be

answered through this research by analysing how the

society see the meaning and goal of a marriage, what

is the common reason of society to have a divorce,

and how the role of mediator in mediation process

based on the response of society member who are

facing trial of divorce case in The Religious Court of

Medan.

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A normative legal research and an empirical approach

were used in this research by focusing on the primary

data which was supported by secondary and tertiary

data to analyze how the implementation or the

actualization of positive law in certain law

phenomenon. This focus is to make sure whether the

result of implementation of the positive in society life

is suitable with the law purpose or not based on its

specifications, it is categorized as an normative

empirical research the data that used in this research

was collected through direct observation and

interview to the society members who are facing the

divorce case in The Religious Court of Medan

(Medan Religion Court).

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Personal Comprehension of Society

Members Who Had Filed a Divorce

Lawsuit to the Religious Court of

Medan Regarding the Significance

of Marriage Pursuant to the Law of

Republic Indonesia Act Number 1

of the Year 1974 on Marriage and

the Islamic law Compilation

The definition of marriage in pursuance of the first

article on Marriage Law No. 1 of 1974 is as stated

“Marriage is a physical and spiritual bond between a

man and a woman as husband and wife, having the

purpose of establishing a happy and lasting family

founded on the Belief in God Almighty.” Concerning

the interpretation of the law, it was mentioned that a

marriage is a physical and spiritual bond, marriage is

not only seen as an outward bond, but mental bond as

well. Hence emphasizing that marriage holds more

meaning than merely a connection physically but also

spiritually between the two parties. A physical bond

could be defined as a visible bond between the

husband and the wife and a spiritual bond is an

invisible bond perceived by only the pair. If this inner

bond does not exist in a marriage, the marriage can be

equated with an inert body.

The second essential meaning of marriage

pertaining to the intention of marriage, is to establish

a happy and eternal family. The word “bond” has

been defined as “a binding relationship” according to

the Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language of

the Language Center (abbreviated in English and

Indonesian as KBBI) as the official dictionary of the

Indonesian Language. Whereas the word “lasting” in

KBBI means “to remain, does not shift for eternity”.

It can be concluded that a happy and lasting family is

an eternal bond that remains forever.

Both of fore mentioned essential meanings are

related to the third, that is “founded on the Belief in

God Almighty”. Aurelius Augustinus (354-430)

acknowledges the natural processes of the universe

take place according to God’s plan. The law

originated from God is termed as “Lex Aeterna” (the

eternal law). It should be understood that if the

husband and the wife carry out all their rights and

obligations according to the teachings of their

religion. Because all religions basically teach

goodness and virtue.

Based on data obtained through interviews with

30 respondents present at the Religious court of

Medan, it was found that 90% (27 people) regarded

The Socio-legal Study Related to the Increase of Divorce Case Number in Medan

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the marriage as sacred, 6,67% (2 people) assumed

marriage as one of the human needs and 3.3% (one

person) takes marriage as a status demand. This

shows that the parties who filed the lawsuit to the

Religious Court of Medan knew the meaning and

purpose of marriage theoretically. But why did they

still file a divorce lawsuit? The answer is that they

understood marriage in theory but not in its essence.

MS, one of the respondents who filed a lawsuit

claimed that for 23 years of marriage to her husband

who often lied to her. MS believed that for 23 years

she had held back her ego from having a fight with

her partner. However, because she made mistakes

several times, her husband filed a lawsuit to the court.

It can be concluded that the understanding and

comprehension towards the meaning and purpose of

marriage in theory and essence can not only be

understood by only one party. To help, to forgive each

other and hold back their own egoistic nature each

becomes the primary key to creating a solid physical

and spiritual bond based on the belief of God

Almighty.

3.2 Reasons for the Cause of

Divorcement in the Religious Court

of Medan

Based on the data achieved from the religious court

of Medan regarding the number of divorce cases in a

period of time between January 2016-June 2018 was

found a striking number of 7.443 cases which consist

of 5.825 (78.26%) contested divorce case and 1.618

(21.74%) conditional divorce case. In year 2016, a

number of 634 contested divorce cases and 2.327

conditional divorce cases with a total of 2.961 cases

had occurred. In year 2017 there were 604 cases of

conditional divorce and 2.292 cases of contested

divorce with a total of 2.896 cases. In year 2018, from

the period of time in between January-June a number

of 380 cases of conditional divorce and 1.206 cases

of conditional divorce had occurred.

The Reason for divorce has been regulated by The

UUP. However, based on the data which is obtained

from the Religious Court of Medan. Many reasons

that are not in accordance with the reasons which are

regulated by the UUP, the reasons are :

No.1: The Reasons to have divorce which are not regulated

in UUP

Reason of

Divorce

Number

of Case

Percentage

Absence of

Responsibility

1577 31,94%

2 Polygamy 28 0,56%

3 Economy 189 3,82%

Source : The Religious Court of Medan

The result of interview confirm the data from

Religious Court of Medan and based on the result of

the research we found the first reason absence of

responsibility is also related to the first section of

discussion conclusion. The absence of responsibility

is caused because the husband or wife ignore their

right and responsibilities and prefer to prioritize their

own personal interest. This situation is affected by

Indonesia Marriage Law. In article 7 chapter 1 in the

act number 1 of the year 1974. The article stated that

the minimum age for woman to have a marriage is 16

years old and 19 years old for man. We analyzed that

these ages are not suitable to be the minimum age to

have marriage in this current era. Because 16 and 19

years old still classified as teen. Because teenagers are

the one who still 17-25 years old. This data is

supported by Mappiarre (2012) who stated that teens

are the one who still 12-21 years old for female and

13-22 years old for male. This period negatively

called as the un-stage, unbalanced, unstable, and

unpredictable period. In this period there are many

changes in psychological, social and intellectual.

Based on this explanation we conclude that on these

ages they tend to take a spontaneous act without

considering the outcome of their own action. It makes

the absence of responsibility become the most

common reason of divorce which happened in

Medan.

If we analyze further the third ranked reason is

economy reason, we also conclude that this reason

also become as one of the most common reason of

divorce because the husbands and wives who are still

underage unable to get a proper income for their daily

need. In the other side the primary, secondary or even

tertiary need of people increase day by day. Because

if they get marriage before 25 there is big possibility

that they don’t have bachelor degree yet which make

them hard to find a proper job with a proper salary

which can fulfill their basic fundamental need. It is

supported by a data from Indonesian Education

Minister which stated that the average age of a person

ICOSTEERR 2018 - International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches

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graduated and get bachelor degree is 22 years old,

which means every couple who marry before 22 years

old, most of them don’t have bachelor degree which

make them hard to find a proper job and get proper

income or salary to fulfill their basic fundamental

need.

4 CONCLUSIONS

In the current time many people understand

theoretically the meaning and the goal of marriage but

infact they cannotimplement the meaning of marriage

and achieve it. It because now days society is too

selfish and only prioritize their own personal interest

and even sacrifice the interest or need of the family to

achieve it. It is worsened by a change of marriage

value, most of people only know that marriage has a

sacred value and form of physical and spiritual bond.

But its not reflected by how they treat their own

marriage and family. Based on the data above we also

can see that most of the divorce case is initiated by

woman or wife. We analyze the trend of gender

equality campaign and slogan also has a part on this

social phenomenon because now days many wives

who don’t do their responsibilities well and demand

more than their own right have give bad impact to the

harmony in one family. Those reasons make people

only know theoretically the meaning and goal of

marriage but don’t know the essential value of a

marriage.

Based on the explanation in the discussion we also

can conclude there are several reasons of divorce. But

in Medan the most common reason behind a divorce

is because the absence of responsibility either by the

husband or wife. The absence of this responsibility is

caused because husband-wife relationship in manage

a family doesn’t work well. It because one or both of

the parties don’t do their right and responsibility

properly. This is also impacted by the regulation of

minimum age of marriage in Act Number 1 of the

year 1974 in article 7 which stated that the minimum

age for woman is 16 and for man is 19. People in these

ages still classified as teens where they are still un-

stage, unbalanced, unstable and unpredictable.

Therefore there are a lot of youth who still 24 years

old who already go to the Religious Court of Medan

to have a divorce lawsuit. this research conclude this

phenomenon happened because the people who get

married when they are teens, are not ready to face the

problems which can appear in the family life and

cannot prioritize the family need and tend to prefer

the personal interest first. Furthermore another main

reason behind a divorce is economy problem. This

problem appear because the husband or wife unable

to get a proper salary in their after-marriage life. They

tend to have fight with their couple only because of

this economy problem.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The research was funded by the Directorate of

Research and Community Service of the Directorate

General for Research and Development of the

Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher

Education in accordance with the Funding Research

and Community Service Agreement for the Fiscal

Year 2018.

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