sharia-based laws 161
The appellate court accepted her arguments and overruled the decision of
the first instance court. After Halimah had won her case in the appellate
court, Bambang filed a case with the Supreme Court, which rejected
his appeal. He did not give up and asked the Supreme Court to review
the decision. Consequently, the Supreme Court decided to revise its
decision and approved the petition to divorce Halimah. Yet, Halimah
did not give up either. She scrutinised the legal arguments used by the
judges and decided to appeal to the Constitutional Court. She referred to
Article 39(2f) of the Marriage Law No. 1/1974, which is in accordance
with Article 116 of the Kompilasi. Both regulate the procedures and
grounds for divorce and stipulate that one of the grounds on which
a petition for divorce may be approved is a protracted or continuous
dispute between spouses. Halimah argued that nowhere is it specified in
detail what the conditions for a continuous dispute are. In other words,
she questioned the type of dispute that the judges might consider to be
valid grounds for divorce.⁵⁹ Halimah admitted that she had had several
disputes and arguments with her husband, but insisted that the source of
their discord was the fact that her husband had married another woman,
Mayangsari, a famous singer.⁶⁰ She requested the annulment of the article
that laid down protracted or continuous dispute as a valid basis for
divorce. However, Halimah’s attempts were unsuccessful as, after several
hearings and discussions, the Constitutional Court rejected her request.⁶¹
According to Mahfud md, the chairman of the Constitutional Court, the
article should be retained to provide a legal recourse for couples who, due
to continuous disputes, cannot achieve the sacred purpose of marriage.⁶²
The other judicial review was sought by Machicha Muchtar, the
unofficial ex-wife of Murdiono, a former state secretary (Sekretaris
Negara). The intention of her request was to protect, besides the rights
of women, the rights of children. For a long time Machicha had not
been able, despite many attempts, to obtain legal documents for her
son, born during her unofficial marriage with Murdiono, that stated a
legal relationship to his biological father. She was married to Murdiono
in 1993 without registration and bore him a baby, named Muhammad
Iqbal Ramadhan. At the time, Murdiono was tied by the marriage to his
first wife. Having married informally, Machicha was not considered a
‘Halimah Kamil Files Judicial Review’,The Jakarta Post, 11 July 2011.
‘Halimah Agustina Kamil Gave Evidence in Judicial Review of Act of Marriage’,
http://www.mahkamahkonstitusi, 21 July 2011 (accessed 7 August 2012).
Ibid. See also ‘Gugatan Ditolak mk, Halimah tak Akan Rujuk’,Kapanlagi.com, 27
March 2012 (accessed 12 August 2012).
‘Gugatan Ditolak mk, Halimah tak Akan Rujuk’, 27 March 2012.