Islamic Legal Protection of Child's Rights in Polygamous Marriage in Indonesia

Abstract

The Indonesian Marriage Law Act Number 1/1974, and the Compilation of Islamic Law (KHI) regulate the constitutional law of polygamous marriage in Indonesia. The act states that the basic principle of marriage in Indonesia is monogamy. The act also says that the husband must show evidence telling his ability to fulfill his family needs. The study on these issues conducted in Indonesia is a part of the Indonesia Islamic family law. The neglected protection of the child’s rights in a family needs to be escorted through imposing the rules concerning it. This study aims to find out the implementation of the protection of child rights in Islamic law on polygamous marriage. This research employed a qualitative method with a socio-legal study case approach. The result of the study showed first, there is always a problem in the matter of the child’s rights that should be fulfilled by polygamist fathers that have to be protected. Second, the rights of children in polygamous marriage cannot be fulfilled equally especially in unrecorded polygamous marriages. Third, there is uncertainty in the marriage law related to the maturity of children who are still under the protection of parents, where this uncertainty will make it difficult to implement the law. Basically, the protection of children in polygamous marriages has been regulated in the Islamic Marriage Law in Indonesia. However, there are still many gaps in Islamic legal protection in child protection in polygamous marriages, plus there are still many people who do not comply and ignore it.