Despite the enactment of a speciíc law on domestic violence, the
elimination of violence in the household is still an elusive target in Indonesia.
For example, according to the National Commission on Anti Violence
Against Women, a large number of Muslim divorces in the Religious Courts
have involved domestic violence. is article discusses the opportunities
and challenges for eliminating domestic violence in Indonesian Muslim
society. Employing both normative and socio-legal analysis, it índs that
the state is unable to resolve the existing conîict between the requirements
of the Law – which oblige the state to amend conîicting legislation – and
the provisions of both civil and Islamic marriage laws, which create the
potential for violence against women in the household. ese include gender
role stereotypes, the fuzziness of the obedience concept (nushūz) and linking
maintenance to a wife’s obedience, and the ambiguity of marriage validity.
is necessitates the reformation of Indonesian marriage laws.