Jusuf Kalla made the off-the-cuff remarks at a travel industry seminar on how to
attract more Arab visitors to Indonesia. It was not clear whether he was
joking, though his comments caused laughter in the audience.
Kalla said that many Arab tourists currently traveled to the hill town of
Puncak near Jakarta to enter into short-term marriage contracts with Indonesian
women.
"We need different kinds of marketing campaigns, more targeted. At the moment
most Arabs go to Puncak. If they go there looking for widows or divorcees, that
is not our business, it is not a problem."
"So what if the man goes home, the lady gets a small house that is good isn't
it?"
Women activists say the weddings, which are not recognized by the state but are
blessed by Islamic clerics for a fee, they are a form of legalized prostitution
and encourage poor families to sell their daughters for sex.
Media reports say the practice is common throughout Indonesia, and that most of
the grooms are local men.
Puncak is notorious for prostitution, and signs in Arabic at several
restaurants and hotels testify to the area's popularity with Arab visitors. But
it was unclear on what Kalla was basing his assertion that Arab men were
especially involved in short-term marriages.
Kalla was not available for comment Thursday, and he does not have a spokesman.
Associated Press
