MUSLIM TELEVANGELIST IN POLYGAMY SCANDAL: FANS,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 013442

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2011
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI KISL ID
SUBJECT: MUSLIM TELEVANGELIST IN POLYGAMY SCANDAL: FANS,
PROGRESSIVES DISMAYED

REF: 05 JAKARTA 4913 TELE-PREACHER AA GYM ON ISLAM IN
INDONESIA

Classified By: Political Officer Catherine E. Sweet, Reason 1.4(d)


1. (SBU) Summary. Indonesia's most popular Muslim
televangelist, Aa Gym, has admitted to taking a second wife,
much to the dismay of Muslim progressives and his adoring
female followers. Gym's admission, along with a recent sex
scandal involving a politician who tried to take his pop star
lover as a second wife, have brought the polygamy debate to
the fore. President Yudhoyono has seized upon the public
outcry over Aa Gym to revisit and expand Indonesia's polygamy
laws. Advocates of polygamy, who are by largely male and
religiously conservative but also include the leader of
Indonesia's largest mass Muslim organization, are pushing
back. They point out that the Qur'an permits polygamy and
assert that the need for polygamy is essentially biological.
Polygamy foes decry the use of plural marriages as cover for
adulterous behavior, and question whether men can truly be
"just" toward more than one wife, as required by law and by
Islam. While heartened that the Gym affair might spur a
revision of Indonesia's polygamy laws, one feminist worries
it may also embolden religious conservatives to use the
otherwise moderate Gym to buttress their opposition to
women's equality. End Summary.


2. (U) Indonesia's most popular Muslim televangelist,
Abdullah Gymnastiar (generally known as Aa Gym),has admitted
to taking a second wife, much to the dismay of Muslim
progressives and his adoring female followers. Speculation
about the charismatic Gym entering into a polygamous
arrangement came to a head on December 1, when he was asked
during a Friday sermon broadcast from Malaysia whether he had
married a second time. Gym offered a tortured explanation
about men and women's differing physical needs, saying that
"women tend to be monogamous, that's how their software is."
As for men, "their software is different," claimed Gym. In a
series of press conferences on December 2 and 3, Gym conceded
that three months ago he had married Alfarini "Rini" Eridani,
a woman who reportedly worked at Gym's Darut Tauhiid Islamic
boarding school (Rini is divorced according to some press
accounts, widowed in others). Gym, a photogenic 44-year old
cleric, has been married to first wife Ninih Muthmainnah
Muhsin (known as Teh Ninih) for 18 years. She is the mother
of his seven children.

Stand by Your Man
--------------


3. (U) Teh Ninih has previously offered public support for
Gym taking another wife. In October, amid rumors that Gym
had married again, Teh Ninih told reporters that "if
(polygamy) can make Aa happy, I will just go along. Although
that issue is very hard for a woman, I hope to get to heaven.
One of the requirements for entering heaven is being loyal
to your husband." Indeed, Teh Ninih has appeared by Gym's
side during his recent press conferences, revealing that
preparations for the second marriage had been underway for
five years. Still, when reporters asked if she was jealous,
she conceded that she was "clearly jealous. That is a sign
of love."


4. (U) Gym's action has devastated many of his fans, who
regarded him as an ideal husband and father. The embodiment
of "smiling Islam," Gym was particularly popular among women,
who routinely packed stadiums to hear him preach and who were
avid watchers of his weekly televised sermons (reftel). As a
consequence of his announcement, however, the Jakarta Post
reported that attendance at Gym's Sunday lectures dropped
precipitously, and an SMS protest campaign has begun. Gym
has acknowledged the impact of his decision and offered an
apology to "whoever does not agree with my action. If indeed
I am no longer considered to be appropriate, hopefully
another person who is more appropriate will emerge."


5. (U) Aa Gym is the latest prominent figure to join the
ranks of the Indonesian polygamist pantheon. Although there
are no reliable data on the overall rate of polygamy,
observers agree that it is increasing. Included among
well-known polygamists are the deputy chairman of the upper
house of parliament, A.M. Fatwa; Chairman of the Islamist
Prosperous Justice Party's Central Board, Anis Matta; and
former President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Vice President,
Hamza Haz, who has three wives. (Note. Megawati herself is
the product of a polygamist relationship as the daughter of
founding president Soekarno and his second wife. End Note.)
Perhaps the most colorful polygamist is a Jakarta
restaurateur named Puspo Wardoyo, who holds an annual

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Polygamy Award ceremony and whose restaurant franchises offer
selections such as "polygamy juice" and "polygamy vegetables."


6. (U) Meanwhile, the issue of polygamy has also surfaced in
a sex scandal involving Golkar legislator Yahia Zaini and pop
music singer Maria Eva. After video of a sexual encounter
between the two was made public last week, Zaini has stepped
down from his post as, ironically, Golkar's head of religious
affairs (Zaini is also a former chairman of the Muslim
Students Association). The party is currently debating
whether it will recall Zaini. At a press conference on
December 4, Maria Eva acknowledged the affair and said that
although Zaini, who is already married, asked her to marry
him, she refused because she "did not want to become a second
wife."

Time to Revise Polygamy Laws?
--------------


7. (U) President Yudhoyono has seized upon the public outcry
over Aa Gym to revisit Indonesia's polygamy laws.
Indonesia's 1974 marriage law stipulates that men wishing to
take more than one wife (and women wishing to become second,
third or fourth wives) must seek permission from the local
court. Permission will be granted only if the first wife
cannot carry out her wifely duties, becomes handicapped or
terminally ill, or is barren. Additionally, the husband must
obtain the first wife's/wives' consent (if she is mentally
capable of granting it),prove that he can afford to support
all of the wives and their children, and guarantee that he
will be just toward all his wives and children.


8. (U) In 1983, at the urging of then-President Suharto's
wife Ibu Tien, the government passed a law further
restricting polygamy for civil servants. In addition to
fulfilling the requirements of the 1983 law, civil servants
must also obtain their supervising officer's permission to
take another wife (if male) or become a second/third/fourth
wife (if female). Civil servants who are married to other
civil servants are forbidden outright from engaging in
polygamy. "Officers," however, are exempted from the 1983
law; these include ministers, the attorney general, the
leadership of non-departmental governmental institutions,
supreme/high state secretariat institutions, state- and
regionally-owned banks and bodies, military personnel,
governors and district heads. A final revision of the law in
1990 prohibits female civil servants (but not male civil
servants or officers of either sex) from entering into plural
marriages.


9. (U) On December 4, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
(SBY) met with Minister of Women's Empowerment Meutia Farida
Hatta Swasono and Nazaruddin Umar, the Ministry of Religion's
Director General of Religious Guidance and, according to
Meutia, ordered that the government look into broadening the
1983 law to include all state employees. SBY, who indicated
that his goal was to protect women, argued that those who
justify polygamy as religiously sanctioned must "understand
the religion properly," and abide by the prerequisites to
taking more than one wife. He indicated that he opposes the
use of religion as a wedge on this issue, calling on
Indonesians to "think clearly" and prevent the issue from
"developing into an unhealthy public discourse."

The Case for More than One Wife
--------------


10. (U) Not surprisingly, the Aa Gym case has revived an
emotional debate about the acceptability of polygamy. The
most vocal advocates of polygamy have been, by and large,
male and religiously conservative. They have pointed out
that, under certain circumstances, the Qur'an permits men to
have as many as four wives, and note that the Prophet
Muhammad himself was a polygamist. Like Gym, others have
explained the need for polygamy as essentially biological.
For example, Masdar Farid Mas'udi, a high-ranking member of
Indonesia's largest mass Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama
(NU),asserted that "polygamous institutions actually fulfill
women's desires and reproductive rights. Not every man is up
to being a good husband, unlike women." The Jakarta Post
also quoted Yoyoh Yusroh, a female member of parliament from
the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party, as saying that
"polygamy is better than infidelity. Think of a 25-year old
widow ) she will need a husband to finance her children. If
polygamy is banned, things would only get worse for her."


11. (U) NU Chairman Hasyim Muzadi, whom many believe to be
much more conservative than NU's general membership, has
criticized the government's plans to change the marriage

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laws. Muhammadiyah Chairman Din Syamsuddin has likewise
suggested that the government should stay out of what is
fundamentally a religious question; he also admonished
religious leaders not to become involved in a political
debate over the marriage law.

The Argument against Polygamy
--------------


12. (C) Prominent Muslim feminist and Director of the Center
for Pesantren and Democracy Studies Lily Munir, who has long
been outspoken in opposing polygamy, told us she was dismayed
by Gym's announcement. (Note. Munir is a former
International Visitor and a fellow at Emory University's
Islam and Human Rights Fellowship Program. End Note.) She
condemned those Muslims who use polygamy as "a sexual excuse"
for behavior that would otherwise be considered adulterous,
saying that there is no textual basis in the Qur'an for that.



13. (U) Nazaruddin Umar, the Ministry of Religion's Director
General for Islamic Affairs, questioned whether men could
truly treat more than one wife equally, as mandated b Islam.
"Can one really( be just? Men would sayyes, but God in the
holy Qur'an says it is impossible for men to be just." (Note.
Umar is a formr Fulbright scholar who conducted research at
Gergetown University on gender biases from 2002-2003 In
addition to his min*istry position, Umar teahes at the State
Islamic University. End Note.)


14. (C) Munir believes that the Gym affair will ave a mixed
effect. On the one hand, she applaued the government for
taking advantage it to revisit Indonesia's polygamy laws. On
the other hand, she fears that Gym's action will embolden
religious conservatives who do not support equal rights for
women and who may now use the otherwise moderate Gym to
buttress their arguments.
PASCOE