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The Central Java Police are building a criminal case against wealthy cleric Pujiono Cahyo Widiyanto for marrying a 12-year-old girl in his hometown of Semarang, Central Java.Provincial police chief Insp. Gen. FX Sunarno said Monday Pujiono could face criminal charges under the 2002 law on child protection for "forcing, swindling and/or trading" a minor to sleep with him.The police will also use the 1974 marriage law, banning a person from marrying before the age of 16, to charge the eccentric Muslim cleric."The police have conducted an early investigation (into the case) following public reaction over Puji's marriage to the minor," Sunarno said."Should the investigation find him violating the law, we will name him a suspect."He said police had earlier detected a "misdemeanor" in Pujiono's marriage with the eight-grader, Lutfiana Ulfa.Pujiono, a 43-year-old businessman and owner of an Islamic boarding school in Semarang, said he married Lutfiana in early August because he intended to make her the youngest director at his brass calligraphy business.He also gave the bizarre explanation that since Lutfiana had already experienced menstruation, she was old enough to get married.In a rally outside the provincial police headquarters, activists from the Network for Women and Children (JPPA) urged the authorities to also charge the cleric with "child trafficking".JPPA coordinator Agnes Widanti said Lutfiana had likely been forced to marry Pujiono, adding the cleric may have used his wealth as an enticement."This is a trafficking crime. The Central Java Police should take immediate measures against Syech Puji," she said.In Jakarta, Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) secretary Hadi Supeno said his office's fact-finding team sent to Semarang over the weekend found Pujiono had chosen Lutfiana as his second wife through a contest involving several other minors.The contest, Hadi went on, had been advertised in local newspapers and included "a fit-and-proper test" with Pujiono's first wife and followers as judges."Possibly (the screening) involved the assessment of beauty, body weight and height," he added.Hadi said the KPAI had met Monday with the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) in Jakarta to call for an edict to forbid marriages with minors."Puji always uses religious arguments to justify his actions, so we asked the MUI to do something about this," he said.According to the MUI, two edicts regarding underage marriages are already in place, Hadi said.The first was issued in the 1970s, recommending that marriages comply with the 1974 marriage law requiring a minimum marrying age of 16 years.The second edict, issued in 2006, bans purely religious marriages, kawin siri, as conducted by the cleric, because of the inherent disadvantages it brings. Such a marriage, however, is allowed under traditional Islamic law.Hadi said the MUI had promised to set up a team to follow up on the KPAI's demand, citing many cases of kawin siri involving minors in the country.By Suherdjoko and Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Semarang, Jakarta
As in the days of Noah....
