The Coordinating Human Development and Culture Ministry revealed that Indonesia had been seeing a rising trend of divorce and domestic abuse is the top reason behind it, alongside other factors including financial problems and adultery.
According to the ministry’s Children, Women and Youth Quality Improvement deputy, Woro Srihastuti, 54% of divorcing couples last year cited constant conflict and arguing as the reason behind their separation, with around 1,400 reporting domestic abuse in their marriage.
Woro noted that a large majority of the abuse victims were women and children.
The divorce rate has been rising, especially after Covid-19, when public services were put on hold. “In 2021, the divorce cases stood at 447,743 (a sharp increase from 291,667 in 2020 during the pandemic) and grew to 516,334 cases in the following year,” Woro said, adding that the number shrank to 463,654 last year.
Separate data released by Statistics Indonesia in February also showed that divorces due to domestic abuse had been on the rise over the last three years.
Last year, the agency documented approximately 5,714 divorces linked to domestic abuse, marking a 4% increase from the 2022 figure and an 8% rise compared with the year prior.
The increasing trend is further reflected by more frequent reports of fatal abuse against wives.
Earlier this month, a 28-year-old woman from Purworejo, Central Java, was reportedly beaten to death by her husband while she was six months pregnant with their daughter.
She crawled to a relative’s house in the middle of the night to seek help, but passed away in hospital a few hours later.
Last month, an employee of state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), Andika Ahid Widianto, allegedly strangled and beat his wife to death in East Jakarta.
Prior to marrying the victim, Andika had been divorced by his first wife for allegedly committing domestic abuse, but she did not report the abuse to the police.
The Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry recorded 15,688 cases of domestic abuse experienced by women in 2023, an increase of around 4% from the previous year’s 15,106 cases.
The ministry data also revealed that domestic abuse made up around 66% of all cases of violence against women recorded by authorities last year. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
