According to the Indonesian Dictionary, the bride and groom are people who are getting married. An interpretation that is close to this couple is marriage, wedding, and party. And the feeling that is always portrayed in that situation is joy, excitement, and happiness.
However, the truth is, the word bride is not always synonymous with joy and happiness. In the current socio-political and cultural realities, the word bride can move away from her proximity to feelings of joy and happiness. On the contrary, the word bride has changed its feeling of spreading anxiety, anxiety, and fear.
In historical memory, concerns about the practice of child marriage have been expressed by fighters of the Indonesian women’s movement. In the First Congress of Women in 1928, the practice of forced marriages was discussed, which forced girls to become brides. It could be that they are also forced to become brides as the second or third wife in a polygamous marriage.
The practice of forced marriage is a form of exploitation. This practice uses entangled debt as a trap. This exploitation uses a unilateral interpretation of religion and the arrogance of patriarchal culture. Those who oppose this practice are considered against religion and culture.
The struggle to abolish child marriage in Indonesia finally succeeded. A few weeks ago, a limited revision of Law No. 1 of 1974 concerning Marriage was ratified by changing the minimum age requirement for marriage to 19 years.
What is experienced by girls who are forced to become brides does not only happen in Indonesia; in other parts of the world, this practice is still happening, especially in poor countries, especially in South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
There has long been a global effort to remove it. In 1956 the United Nations renewed the 1927 League of Nations Convention against Slavery and the Slave Trade with the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Slavery, Slavery Trading, and Other Forms Similar to Slavery Practices. In the Renewal of this Convention, it is stated that a similar form of slavery is forced marriages experienced by women with debt bondage or forced marriage to women of other men who are related to their deceased relatives.
The practice of slavery with this form of forced marriage continues in accordance with the changing times and political conditions. Now, this child marriage and forced marriage re-enter the modern slavery definition. In the global commitment to the Sustainable Development Goal, the elimination of child marriage is one of the goals and targets, with a deadline of 2030.
The mail bride order practice is also rife in several parts of Indonesia for the purpose of East Asia. This should be a concern. The author, about fifteen years ago, discovered this practice in the West Kalimantan region. The main factors are the attractiveness of similarity in physical posture (referring to ethnicity) and poverty. This is a form of sexual exploitation and labor. Formerly the flow used by manual: sending photos and documents via postal service or manual courier. The development of information technology facilitates this practice. Photos and documents are sent by electronic mail and received immediately. TEMPO Magazine March 19, 2001 edition wrote the story of this ordered bride in the Interlude Rubric titled Dream to Be Cinderella in Singkawang.
In situations of war, forced marriages also become a form of submission to the enemy. In the war between ISIS and its opponents in Syria, there was the practice of forced marriages, with female victims Yazidi.
The word bride becomes scary when it is associated with terrorist acts. From a series of suicide bombings in Indonesia, the perpetrators are referred to as “brides”.
Aside from being a code, the nickname “bride” is used to motivate the perpetrators to die because they are promised to enter to heaven, to become brides with beautiful angels. The term bride then becomes a special terminology for those who work in combating terrorism.
The documentary film “Bride” produced by Noor Huda Ismail, an investigator on the issue of terrorism, marries the original meaning of the bride according to the Big Indonesian Dictionary and the terrorist version of the bride. This film revolves around online marriage as a method of recruiting potential terrorists, both as sympathizers and active actors.
