Marriage is commonly known as a lasting union of two hearts that cherish and forgive each other every day. However, it is not the same for women in Puncak, a mountain pass and a popular tourist destination in the Bogor Raya Region of West Java, Indonesia!

Reports suggest that young women from low-income families are tying nuptial knots with male tourists in return for money in Puncak. This practice is known as Pleasure Marriage. As expected, male tourists from the foreign lands, primarily from West Asia, are taking advantage of this practice to exploit the Indonesian women!

Sociologists have explained that pleasure marriages are basically short-term or temporary unions between poor Indonesian women and rich foreign tourists in exchange for money! The Los Angeles Times recently reported that the practice has become a lucrative industry, strengthening tourism, as well as the local economy, in Puncak.

Initially, local ladies are introduced to tourists by their family members or friends. Later, they are forced to marry the tourists in exchange for money. The local authorities have institutionalised the practice mainly because of the expansion of agencies that specialise in making these arrangements. As per an article published in the Los Angeles Times on September 11, 2024, a number of agencies in Kota Bunga, a highland resort, introduce tourists to the local women and also conduct an informal wedding ceremony with the consent of both parties following a brief. Male tourists have to pay a bride price to family members of the girl before the wedding ceremonies and the bride offers domestic and sexual services during the visitor’s stay at her residence. Interestingly, the marriage dissolves with the departure of the tourist from the Southeast Asian nation.

Cahaya (28) recently shared her harrowing experience with the Los Angeles Times, stressing that she married tourists from the Middle East more than 15 times! The Indonesian woman revealed that her first husband was a 50-year-old Saudi tourist who had paid a bride price of USD 850! However, Cahaya received only half of that amount as officials and agents deducted their cut. The Saudi man left for his country five days after the wedding, and they were officially divorced.

Interestingly, Cahaya had come to know about this practice at the age of 13 when she was forced to marry a tourist by her grandparents in a rare first! After four years, her husband filed for divorce, leaving Cahaya to raise their young daughter on her own without any financial support. She started working at general stores and factories producing shoes, although the pay was not enough. Cahaya further revealed that she earned USD 300-500 per marriage. However, the amount barely covered her rent and other expenditures. “I wanted so badly to help my mother and my family financially. They have no idea about this. I would die if they knew,” she told the US daily. Nisa, another Indonesian lady, managed to escape this trap after being married at least 20 times! Now, she is the wife of an Indonesian immigration officer, who helped her to start a new life. Nisa is trying hard to forget her past.

Meanwhile, Budi Priana, a part-time Indonesian entrepreneur, informed the press that he first learnt about pleasure marriages three decades ago when some tourists from West Asia had requested him to assist them in finding temporary brides! Later, he became a marriage broker and started matching visitors and prospective wives with his employers. The move had helped him to increase his earnings. According to Priana, this particular business has expanded in recent times, with some arranging around 25 marriages a month! Now, the 55-year-old Priana is trying to do his best to safeguard the poor Indonesian women and to assist them in exploring employment opportunities. “There are always new girls contacting me looking for contract marriages, but I tell them I am not an agent. The economy is getting worse, and they are so desperate to get jobs,” he told the Los Angeles Times.

Sociologists have expressed a serious concern over the practice of pleasure marriage, stating that the exploitation of weaker women and sex tourism have exposed the Women’s Rights situation in Indonesia. They have also traced the origin of pleasure weddings in Shia Islam, although most Islamic scholars consider these unions unacceptable. Even the Indonesian Law does not accept these provisional agreements. From the legal point of view, such marriages go against the core idea of the very institution that is to establish a solid and enduring family bond.

Yayan, an expert in Islamic Family Law, has said: “People think the government should not intervene in religious affairs. The State Law does not define the legitimacy of the marriage, because it is stipulated by religion. That is the problem.” For his part, Programme Director of the activist organisation Jakarta Feminist Anindya Restuviani has stressed: “There is no legal protection whatsoever. We have the law, but the implementation itself is very, very challenging.”

The common people have strongly criticised the practice, arguing that pleasure marriage perpetuates human trafficking, sexual abuse and exploitation of women by taking advantage of poverty-stricken communities.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das