Legal Pluralism in Indonesia: the Case of Interfaith Marriages Involving Muslims

Abstract

Since the enactment of the national Marriage Law in 1974, the legal validity of interfaith marriages has been a highly controversial and ever-present issue in Indonesian legal, religious and social discourse, especially when Muslims are involved. Whereas the general public holds the view that interfaith marriages are unlawful, there is no explicit regulation on interfaith marriages within the Indonesian Marriage Law, except for the general condition that marriage must be concluded in accordance with the spouses’ religions and beliefs. The dominant Indonesian interpretation of Islamic law has come to prohibit marriages between Muslims and non-Muslims. This chapter discusses how the Indonesian Pancasila state tries to find a balance between influential religious legal norms on the one side, and constitutional rights as well as human rights on the other. It argues that given the discursive inseparability of marriage and religion especially in the dominant Islamic discourse, legal change is most likely to occur through the backdoor in this highly sensitive and political issue.

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