Life is Healthy

Jakarta Globe, Anita Rachman & Nurfika Osman, March 26, 2010

Makassar. Taking Islamic law as its guide, leading Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama on Friday issued a fatwa declaring underage marriage acceptable as long as the purpose of the union was to build a happy family.

Cholil Nafis, secretary of the committee for religious issues for this past week’s 32nd NU congress, said the gathering had agreed that there should be no age restrictions on marriage because sacred Islamic verses or regulations had not stipulated a minimum age.

“They can get married at any age, even girls who haven’t started menstruating,” he said. “And they can have intimate relationships and intercourse, as long as they are able.”

Cholil said Islamic law only suggested that marriages would be better after a woman had her first period.

“As long as the objectives of the marriage are positive, it is allowed,” Cholil said. “Mind you, we don’t encourage people just to get married to fulfill their desires, no,” he added.

NU was aware that some groups might disagree, he said. While NU looked at the issue from a religious point of view, others might focus on different aspects, such as human rights.

“If people disagree with our fatwa, so be it. We never force people to follow what we say.”

Cholil said an NU report mentioned underage marriages in some regions, but added that they were mostly traditional engagements between families who wanted their offspring to marry.

Under such a marriage, the minors are wed under Islamic law as if they were adults, but live separately with their families until they are judged mature enough to assume adult responsibilities.

Friday’s edict drew immediate criticism from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), as well as the nation’s second-largest Islamic group, Muhammadiyah, and the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan).

“Girls need mental maturity to be responsible for their husband and children,” MUI chairman Amidhan told the Jakarta Globe. “Based on the 1974 Law on Marriage, girls can only get married after they are 16.”

Yunahar Ilyas, Muhammadiyah’s fatwa committee chairman, said NU should not issue edicts and recommendations based solely on an Islamic perspective.

“They are supposed to see this matter comprehensively. Menstruation is not a measurement of a girl’s maturity,” Yunahar said.

“She needs to be mentally and intellectually mature to be able to be a good mother and wife.”

Komnas Perempuan vice chairwoman Masruchah told the Globe that the edict violated the Law on Child Protection, which defines children as being younger than 18 years old.

Girls can begin to have their periods as early as the age of 9, but their reproductive system is still fragile and they are “not ready to be a sexually active person,” she said.

Antara News, Saturday, March 27, 2010 04:59 WIB

Tangerang (ANTARA News) - Police has arrested six suspects for the alleged production of narcotic drugs at the Graha Raya Bintaro Jaya residential complex on Jalan Boulevard Raya, Cluster Cendana Blok P-1 No. 31, Pondok Jagung village, Serpong Utara, South Tangerang city, Banten province Friday night.

Narcotics division director at the National Police Headquarters Brig Gen Arman Depari said at the crime scene that the six men were also allleged producing sabu (methyl amphetamine).

The police was still interrogating the suspects and searching the house where the drugs were made.

The police also seized thousands of ecstacy pills, materials and production equipment, and a gun of one of the suspects.

Related Article:

Students in Banda Aceh have been participating in exercises, to increase their ability to face earthquakes and tsunamis. (Antara Photo/Ampelsa)

Massive earthquakes over the past few years have increased the volatility of the tectonic plates beneath the archipelago, experts have warned. They have called for more quake-proof buildings to withstand the heightened threat.

“We are more at risk as the ground becomes more vulnerable and the effects of earthquakes are going to be more devastating,” Mulyo Haris Pradono of the Earthquake Engineering and Disaster Mitigation Unit at the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) said on Friday.

He was referring to peak ground acceleration, a measure of earthquake acceleration on the ground and an important calculation for earthquake engineering.

Mulyo said the PGA in the southern part of Sumatra, Java, North Sulawesi and Papua was the highest in Indonesia.

The assessment is based on research conducted in 2002 and the data is expected to be updated in 2012.

Massive quakes last year that heighten the PGA included the 7.3-magnitude temblor in West Java on Sept. 2, the 7.6-magnitude quake that rocked West Sumatra on September 30 and the 7.2 tremor in West Papua in January.

According to the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), there are 23 earthquake-prone provinces in the country, including Aceh, West Sumatra, West Java, East Java, Bali, West Papua and Papua.

Mulyo said that as increased ground movement was inevitable, the only solution was to build quake-proof buildings in vulnerable areas.

“We are still conducting in-depth research and are assisting West Sumatra to build safer buildings with help from Japan,” he said.

“The point is that now we have to be more aware and prepare for earthquakes.”

He said the primary challenge was the lack of public awareness and effective regulations governing safe construction as people continued to build unsafe structures because they were cheaper.

Fumihiko Imamura, from Japan’s Tohoku University, said the BPPT and Japan had surveyed collapsed buildings in Padang.

“We concluded that many mistakes occurred in the structural planning of the buildings and homes,” Imamura said.

“In order to fix this we need not only a scientific approach but also a social and cultural approach to convince people that they need to live in a safer place to reduce the hazard.”

The two countries last year established a four-year research program called Multidisciplinary Hazard Reduction from Earthquakes and Volcanoes in Indonesia, in an effort to minimize the impact of disasters.

Fourteen institutions from both nations are involved in the joint research.

For this particular reason, you need to gather a college insurance plan for the protection of your own healthcare. There are different sorts of insurance packages and it will vary from one college campus to another. You need to collect the current information and data about pros and cons of the college health insurance package before getting locked into the agreement or contract. One important