Digress a bit outside LOS. Just read this Jakarta piece on hooha with 82 bucks to get #2 wife :p
82 fee for 2nd wife irks Indonesia
Published: 16 Oct 2014 at 16.08 Online news: AsiaWriter: dpa .-
+ JAKARTA — Indonesia's Religious Affairs Ministry on Thursday urged a local government to revoke a law requiring civil servants to pay $82 to take a second wife.
The East Lombok district on Lombok island recently issued a regulation requiring civil servants to pay 1 million rupiah before they can marry another woman, in a move it said was aimed at discouraging polygamy.
An entourage accompanies the bride and the groom in a traditional wedding procession in Lombok on Oct 15. An Indonesian district in east Lombok has ordered male civil servants to pay one million rupiah ($82) to marry a second wife to crack down on polygamy, but activists criticised it as a "crazy" bid to profit from the practice. (AFP photo)
"They should revoke the law," said the ministry's head of Islamic guidance, Muhammadiyah Amin. "They can't just make regulations like that because there's already a regulation on the matter."
A man can marry more than one woman in Indonesia under certain conditions, including getting permission from his first wife. Civil servants are allowed to get a second wife if they also have permission from their superiors.
East Lombok district chief Ali bin Dahlan defended the law, saying it protects women.
"If I had not issued the regulation, it's easy for them [men] to engage in polygamy," Dahlan was quoted as saying by the Kompas.com news website. "Now it's difficult and I have also refused to give permission."
Islamic rules allows a man to have up to four wives, provided that he can treat them fairly.