Thread: Lost my House to a Balinese in Ubud

Sorry...one more PPPS...and that is that it is important to consider that all of these issues fall under the jurisdiction of the regency government, meaning, what goes on in say Denpasar can be quite different than that what happens in Singaraja or Gianyar. As I said in the beginning of this post, it’s dicey.

I've been waiting for 16 years for a change in these antiquated laws and just when I was getting hopeful, I read the story in the Jakarta Post today about the Supreme Court thinking about having foreign males who want to marry Indonesian women pay a 500 million deposit. What is that all about? I love a bit of the absurd, but someone here has gone off the deep end.

Geez Louise Dr. Bruce! When I first read your post, it crossed my mind that you maybe were still celebrating the end of your Little League season. Too much celebrating!

BUT…here it is, in all its utter and indescribable “Monkey Forest” logic! Sorry Bert, but URLs to the Jakarta Post are only alive for a day or so, thus the need to copy the whole bloody and most ridiculous thing!

This is the week of the three most bloody stupid things I’ve ever heard in seven years of living on Bali:

1) Let’s let Bashir go free for good behavior during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

2) Let’s make JI a political party so Australian pressure to ban it goes away.

3) Let’s make foreigners deposit Rp 500 million in a government bank before they can marry an Indonesian woman.



Thanks Doc! You’ve made my night! Just when I was thinking that a “hat trick” of utter stupidity wasn’t possible, there you go and ruin my night!

Here's the article, as Dr. Bruce says, part of today's issue of the Jakarta Post:


Want to marry RI woman? Pay Rp 500m in deposit

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

If you happen to be a not-so-rich foreign gentleman who plans to marry an Indonesian lady here, you'd better tie the knot quickly as the authorities may put an expensive price tag on Indonesian women in the future.

Unknown to many, the Supreme Court is mulling requiring foreign men to deposit some Rp 500 million (about US$50,000) before marrying Indonesian female citizens.

The idea was recommended during a recent Supreme Court national working meeting, which was attended by the Supreme Court leadership and top judges from across the country. It was not immediately clear how the proposed scheme would be implemented.

But according to a document studied at the meeting, such a regulation is applied in Egypt, where foreign men are required to pay a sum of money into a state bank before marrying Egyptian citizens.

"In a bid to protect women, the state of Egypt requires every (male) foreigner who plans to marry an Egyptian citizen to pay 25,000 Egyptian pounds into the Nasser Bank as a bond," said the document, a copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post over the weekend.
The Supreme Court may likely follow up on the idea by submitting it to the government or the House of Representatives, which would draft the ruling.
The recommendation by the male-dominated Supreme Court will add to the complications faced by transnational couples wishing to register their marriages here.

Many consider the current Indonesian law on citizenship as failing to protect transnational couples, particularly marriages between Indonesian women and foreign men.

Such couples must go through lengthy and complicated immigration and other processes to legalize their marriage under Indonesian law.
More problems usually occur later since the Citizenship Law (No. 62/1958), which applies the outdated bloodline principle, does not allow foreign men married to Indonesian women to change nationality, while any children of the marriage will automatically take the same citizenship as the father.
The non-Indonesian husband and children are then treated in much the same way as foreign tourists or visitors. It means they must fly to neighboring countries to renew their visas should the family decide to live in Indonesia.

According to the law as it now stands, when an Indonesian woman who is married to a foreign man dies, her name cannot be inherited by her husband and children. The Indonesian government instead auctions off the property within one year, leaving the mourning family homeless.

The unfavorable situation has forced many Indonesian women to marry their foreign fiances abroad, although this does not actually solve the problem should they decide to live in Indonesia.

The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights has submitted a bill to amend the 1958 Citizenship Law to the House of Representatives. However, the House has yet to list it for further deliberation.

:shock: Perhaps some of these things should paint more clearly where the Government stands on these issues. 1) Sympathehtic with JI...making it a political party isnt that a good idea. Dos'nt that endorse, in a subliminal way, the violent actions we see ? The talk is different the walk is the same. 2) It's all about money ..Get money from foreigners to marry a local..., women, are just another asset to make money from. It is acceptable to treat other races and nationalities different than locals both idealogically and economically. Sometimes it may be hard to see the forest through the trees but perhaps it is time to see more clearly. So even if you are tryting to help the people of Bali it's basically "back of the bus" for you when it comes down to basic rights. Am I missing something ???

This is all just the way it is. Each of us understands this, and accepts it, even though we are disgusted and hope for changes in Indonesian law.

I’ve never heard of an expat, who is married to an Indonesian, and with kids, deported for any reason other than criminal charges, like drug use, consistent visa violations, or pedophilia.

The images, sometimes painted here, of Indonesia being some kind of nasty big brother who wants to expel all foreigners is simply ludicrous.

I’ve never been more comfortable anywhere else where I have lived. If the “Year of Living Dangerously” comes back, and it involves Bali, I will still stay here, and so will my whole family.

I’d love nothing more than to see these laws changed. But it the absence of the passage of these laws, I remain. So does my wife, and our boys and all of our family.

Hi Bert, hello Alice (and everyone who's reading this). I have a very similar story to Alice's, you may be interested...
About 6 years ago I traveled to Bali (from Canada as I am a Canadian) and fell in love with a local guy in Kuta. He was a scuba instructor and I went diving with him...so, things followed and I've decided to get married and live happily ever after on the island.
I made a terrible mistake though. I needed to return to Canada to get my stuff, papers, etc. together. In the meantime I gave him 7000 dollars to buy property with. We picked the place together and paid for it (just the property, no house yet). When I went back to Vancouver and tried to contact him again, he simply disappeared. I called his workplace, emailed him, tried everything to get in touch with him again, but he took off without saying goodbye.
Now, the only thing I know is his name and where he used to work, but I couldn't tell the street address of his home, nor do I have enough money to trace him down in Bali. Naturally, I didn't get any legal documents from the purchase and because of the local laws that time I couldn't have put it on my name anyways.
I know that I won't get my 'fiance' back, I kindly ask that if anyone living near Kuta could find him for me and ask him to at least contact me I'd be very grateful.
(His name is I-Nyoman Darmada)

Thanks for reading...
Vivien

In what place in the world, would you EVER give people money and simply leave? I am sorry for your loss, but becoming educated in what you are doing is a good thing. :roll:

Originally Posted by truth sayer

In what place in the world, would you EVER give people money and simply leave? I am sorry for your loss, but becoming educated in what you are doing is a good thing. :roll:

Umm, well, I was kinda hoping for someone to write me back with more of a practical advise ... No offense, but if you can't do better than to rub it in you might as well keep it shut. (Silence is golden in many situations. - Just helping you "becoming educated")