The Failure of The Judiciary in Suppressing the High Divorce Rate in Indonesia

Abstract

This study shows the unsuccess of mediation in religious courts and offers local wisdom-based mediation as a solution in preventing the high number of divorce cases in Indonesia. Using an empirical approach, researchers collected data by interviewing 50 informants namely judges, religious leaders, and the government related to the increasing divorce rate. The findings that can be presented are religious figures as local wisdom are able to reconcile divorced parties without the need to go to religious courts. The Religious Court is seen as a formal facility to certify the divorce of both parties has not been able to prevent divorce optimally. That is, the high divorce rate in religious courts requires the involvement of religious leaders in reconciling parties who want to divorce. Religious leaders as an important milestone in local wisdom have a strategic role to be involved in the mediation process of Religious Courts. The requirements that cannot be met by religious leaders make it necessary to have a mediation institution outside the court legally.