A new Indonesian film hopes to open up a rare debate on the taboo subject of polygamy, a practice thought to be widespread in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
The movie is called Berbagi Suami, which means "share your husband." It's about three men with very different lives who all choose to take a second, third or fourth wife.
The film has been praised by critics in Indonesia for bringing up a topic that people don't usually talk about.
PHOTO: AFP
The film does not directly condemn polygamy, according to the film's director.
"I want my audience to think," says director Nia Dinata, who estimates from her own research that some 10 percent of Indonesian families are affected by polygamy, which is legal in Indonesia.
Although about 87 percent of the 220 million people who live in Indonesia practice Islam, polygamy has other roots, according to Dinata. She points to Buddhist and Hindu empires in Indonesia's past, during which men kept many women in their houses to have children for them.
Polygamy was also practiced for a long time in Yogyakarta and Solo, from the 17th century up to recent years.
It went underground during the rule of former president Suharto. Under pressure from his wife Siti Hartinah, he made a law in the 1970s that made it illegal for a government worker to marry a second time without the agreement of his first wife and his boss. The law still exists today.
The country has had its share of well-known polygamists, including Puspo Wardoyo, a man who became very wealthy through the restaurant business. He often appears in the media surrounded by his big family and repeats that "more women are more resources." His four wives insist they are happy.
Wardoyo says that polygamy is necessary because women live longer in Indonesia, and argues that it keeps men from having secret love affairs. (AFP)
一部印尼新片希望開啟罕被討論的禁忌話題 -- 一夫多妻制。印尼是穆斯林人口最多的國家，一夫多妻制被認為普遍於印尼社會。
新片片名為「Berbagi Suami」(分享你的丈夫)，描述生活型態截然不同的三名男子，卻殊途同歸選擇娶第二、第三和第四任老婆。
這部片因探討人們不常碰觸的話題，獲得印尼影評的讚賞。
導演指出，此片並未直接批評一夫多妻制。
導演妮亞*迪娜塔說：「我要觀眾去思考這個問題。」據迪娜塔私下研究估計，印尼合法的一夫多妻制影響約 10 % 的印尼家庭。
根據迪娜塔的說法，儘管印尼兩億兩千萬人口中，有八成七的民眾信奉伊斯蘭教，一夫多妻制的起源尚有其他因素。她指出印尼過去佛教及印度教立國時期，男人藉迎娶多位妻子興旺家丁。
從十七世紀至近幾年，一夫多妻一直是日惹和梭羅市的社會習俗。
一夫多妻制於前總統蘇哈托執政時期轉為地下化。經前總統夫人 Siti Hartinah 施壓，前總統蘇哈托於一九七○年代立法禁止政府官員在未經首任妻子和上司同意前迎娶第二任妻子。此法律至今適用。
印尼一直有不少名人享受著齊人之福，包括經營餐廳致富的布斯波*瓦多尤，經常在媒體上被他的大家庭簇擁，重複著「愈多女人，愈多資源」。其四任妻子堅稱他們過著快樂的生活。
瓦多尤表示一夫多妻制有其必要性，一來印尼女人壽命較長，二來能防止男人偷腥。 （法新社／翻譯：鄭湘儀）
★ Bilingual Story is a fictionalized account. 雙語故事部分內容純屬虛構。 Lucas was already on the ground before he fully understood what was happening. “Hurry! Kneel down!” someone shouted. The asphalt was warm against his knees. Around him, dozens of people lay flat in the narrow street outside Jenn Lann Temple in Dajia. Some pressed their hands together in prayer. Others closed their eyes. Lucas had only come to look at the temple. An hour earlier he had stepped into the noisy courtyard out of curiosity. Inside the main hall, people held incense sticks, bowed three times,
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