JAKARTA: A 15-year-old boy and 14-year-old girl in Bantaeng, South Sulawesi, have received permission to attend premarital counseling by the regency’s Religious Court after they insisted on getting married.
The young pair tried to register their marriage at the local Religious Affairs Office (KUA) last week, but were turned down.
The legal marriageable age for girls in Indonesia is 16 and 19 for boys.
“It was the first time I received a marriage application from such a young couple,” KUA official Syarif Hidayat said over the weekend as quoted by kompas.com.
The teens then appealed to the Religious Court, which exempted them from having to meet the standard marriage requirements.
They returned to the KUA with the court’s decision and the office could not refuse them this time, Syarif said.
He added that he had investigated the teenagers’ motives for wanting to get married and found they had received no outside influence on the matter.
The young couple is now registered to marry and are participating in premarital counseling sessions.
“No one set them up and she is not pregnant either,” Syarif said.
The girl said her mother had died a year ago and her father was often away from home for work.
She did not want to sleep alone and both were in love, Syarif said. – The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network
Already a subscriber? Log in
Get 20% OFF The Star Digital Access
Cancel anytime. Ad-free. Unlimited access with perks.
