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Indonesian Anti-Cheating Policy Will Send Men's Salaries Directly To Wives

Indonesia Salary Cheating

First Posted: 02/ 9/2012 2:54 pm Updated: 02/ 9/2012 2:54 pm

The provincial government of Gorontalo in northern Indonesia will begin depositing the salaries of civil servants directly into their wives' bank accounts as part of an effort to crack down on unfaithful husbands and ensure spouses and children have enough money for food and other essentials, the BBC reports.

The policy, introduced by newly-elected Gorontalo Governor Rusli Habibie, will be implemented next week and will take full effect in March, according to the Jakarta Globe.

A spokesman for the Habibie administration said the governor has received complaints from wives that their husbands give them limited money for meals and expenses and had blocked access to bank accounts, possibly because they were trying to conceal affairs.

"We are very concerned about the issue. Thus, we believe it would be best if salaries of male, married civil servants are paid through their wives' accounts," spokesman Rudi Iriawan told the BBC. "Every cent from the salary can be used to cover household expenses instead of other things such as financing extra-marital affairs."

Some parts of Gorontalo may already be familiar with the policy.

When Rudi was serving as a district head of North Gorontalo three years ago, he reportedly instituted a similar policy amid "lots of complaints coming from the wives of male civil servants after not getting any money nor allowance from their husbands to buy daily staples," according to the Jakarta Globe.

It's unclear how easy it will be to implement the new policy, as government officials are exploring ways to encourage civil servants' wives to sign up for bank accounts and check to see if their husbands' salaries have been deposited.

But Bernama Media reported that the government is currently collecting financial data on its married employees and will begin depositing salary and allowances into wives' bank accounts on the first day of each month.

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12:55 PM on 02/13/2012
In other news...Indonesian divorce rates skyrocket.
03:44 PM on 02/12/2012
Is his paycheck put into his wife's account? That's the question. Don't make someone do, what you don't
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
builderman55
Featherless Biped
12:30 PM on 02/12/2012
Why was he cheating husbands anyway? Ok, sorry--it was a very badly worded headline...
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Lahonda
Bynocent Instander
06:16 PM on 02/11/2012
Newt wouldn't cotton to this policy at all.
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Pavane
I pick my battles and walk from the rest.
04:19 PM on 02/11/2012
I love this. Healthy women with stable households make the world better, especially for children.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
byronic
02:33 PM on 02/11/2012
Haha. Great idea! The best kind of cultural re-engineering...
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Blodo
Time to build a better world
09:43 AM on 02/10/2012
As a general rule, women are more likely to save and to spend money on their families than men are, and are better at paying off debts. This is well known to aid agencies and financial institutions.

A person I worked with spent some time working for the Canadian Cooperative Association in Africa, helping out credit unions in a few countries. The practise in at least one of those was for the women to leave their savings pass books at the credit union. That way, their husbands wouldn't know how much they had and would be less tempted to threaten or harass them for money. Many of those women had saved enough in this way to start up their own small businesses.
07:04 PM on 02/09/2012
I know someone who's wife ran up over $100K on credit cards and drained their savings by going on buying binges.

Hope their gov't can social engineer a solution to that.
Epilef2000
Cafe Con Leche Party
09:19 PM on 02/09/2012
basing an opinion on one anecdote is not a good way to judge policy.
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10:54 AM on 02/10/2012
Which is percisely what this politician is doing.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
susanbsbi
Slave to 3 cats
04:18 PM on 02/09/2012
I think it is a good idea as it keeps a roof over head and food on the table for the children. They need to consider this here, as men spend money on other women, instead of their children.
08:53 PM on 02/09/2012
Great! Now the villager can spend more time at home arguing with his wife about how to spend "her money" that he makes... and when he loses the argument, he can then go out to the village and find himself a new girlfriend with her own money.... Wonderful. Sometimes women who got disappoint­ed by a couple of men in their life's experience­, and are now angry with ALL men - cheer about the dumbest things... that on the surface, seem to validate their own narrow opinions. What a waste of the precious time that God/Allah swt has given to each of us, and which we should all spend more wisely.
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ColoradoCool
Relentless...
03:47 PM on 02/10/2012
Sounds like you have a personal ax to grind. Try thinking with the big head for a change.
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Newfoundlander
I'm a pessimist, an optimist with experience!
04:14 PM on 02/09/2012
I can't help but wonder if this proposal had been field-tested, perhaps on Newt Gingrich?
03:35 PM on 02/09/2012
in unrelated news, divorce amongst Indonesian Civil Servants skyrockets.