Relief for 200 Indonesian couples
Published on: Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: About 200 Indonesian couples finally breathed a sigh of relief after getting their marriage officially registered with their government in a ceremony that saw some of them waiting for the moment for 20 years.The ceremony, held Monday, was only for Muslim couples who had religiously solemnised their marriage but yet to make a civil registration. It was the fourth exercise carried out by the Indonesian Consulate General in Kota Kinabalu since it began in 2011.
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Most of the couples were said to be employees working in plantations in Sandakan and other east coast districts who traveled to the city to have their marriage legalised by their government.Indonesian Consul General Akhmad DH. Irfan said the registration was important to ensure that their rights as a married couple are secured and also that of their children. "They face many challenges if their marriage is not registered. One of them is the legal status of their children. There are thesis done by the UMS (Universiti Malaysia Sabah) that study the fate and future of children whose parents' marriage remains unclear," he said. He said when the consulate spread the words across about the exercise, some 900 Indonesian couples in Sabah submitted their application to be registered.
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Unfortunately, he said due to time limitation of the legal team from Jakarta to carry out the process, the consulate could only take 200. But he assured that the exercise will be ongoing and is looking at a possible window sometime in December to do the next one.He also said similar exercise had been conducted for non-Muslim Indonesian couples in five occasions before.
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Akhbar explained that there are many factors that caused couples to postpone the registration of their marriage and common among them are distance, issues with money for traveling and time.Meanwhile, one of the couples, Rahmat Ribi, 44, and his wife Ida Ambotan, 44, both from Bone in Sulawesi, said they were happy to have finally got to make an official registration after 20 years of marriage.The plantation workers based in Kinabatangan, who have four children, shared that they were married in an Islamic ceremony but did not pursue to register under civil law due to lack of documents."We're glad it's finally done," said Rahmat, whose three children are studying in their home country. The eldest is 20.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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