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PKS defends chief's polygamous lifestyle
Jakarta Post - January 8, 2014
PKS lawmaker and deputy secretary-general Sitaresmi Soekanto said it was unfair for the public to judge Anis' leadership based on nothing more than his decision to publicize his preference for a polygamous lifestyle.
"Instead of discussing Pak Anis' personal life, it would be more relevant to discuss his ideas on how to manage the country. It is his personal right to choose [a polygamous way of life]," she told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday on the sidelines of a discussion at the University of Indonesia (UI).
Sitaresmi, one of only a few PKS women politicians on the party's central board, did not, however, urge the public to agree with Anis' preference. "Those who want to follow it [polygamous life] must have sufficient understanding about Islamic teachings as well as a strong financial capability," she said.
The PKS, the country's largest Islamic party, has been struggling to maintain its popularity ratings following the beef import graft case, which implicated Anis' predecessor, Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq.
Anis came under the media spotlight after making a public appearance with his second wife, Hungarian-born Szilvia Fabula, last month. A recent series of messages on Twitter, posted by outspoken PKS lawmaker Fahri Hamzah, about Anis' polygamous lifestyle turned the issue into a public debate.
Tuesday's discussion at UI, which was scheduled to discuss the PKS' platform on development policies, suddenly became a forum to question Anis, the discussion's keynote speaker, about the party's stance on polygamy, which many Indonesian women consider unacceptable.
"Overpopulation is clearly a burden for a country. So, there is actually no problem with polygamous practices if they do not contribute to an increase in the population," said Abdillah Ahsan from the UI's Demographic Institute.
Meanwhile, UI political science professor Chusnul Mar'iyah jokingly raised an issue about increasing state expenditure for supporting state officials who practice a polygamous lifestyle. "The more wives and children a president has, for example, the more Paspampres [Presidential Security Detail] officers are needed to protect them. All, of course, must be paid with taxpayers' money," she said.
Anis, a father of ten, offered only a short response, however. "Islam sees population, including children, as a gift and not a burden. However, people's capacity to manage such a gift is different, from one to another," he said.
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