The Fundamental Problems of Implementing Legal Pluralism of Religious in Indonesian Marriage Law and A Proposal to Reform Based on The Pure of Law Theory

Abstract

Indonesian puts religion as the basis for the validity of marriage that raises a fundamental problem called human rights violation. With an empirical and normative approach, this research interviews ten ex-husbands and ex-wives as the respondents after Catholic divorce in Sleman Regency Indonesia in 2020 to show what fundamental problems arise. Furthermore, the research explores the argument for proposing a 'neutral' marriage law based on pure of-law theory to prevent or eliminate fundamental post-divorce problems. The result shows that the respondents experienced handicaps in remarrying the Catholic way since the Church refuses by considering that the previous marriage can’t be divorced. The condition forces the ex-wives and husbands to finally remarry through the other religion way that violates their freedom of religious right. Based on the Pure of Law theory, it may propose a neutral marriage law with universal values that accommodating everyone to marry or divorce freely without violating their human rights.