Stratification of Customary Marriage According to Larvul Ngabal Law

Abstract

The Marriage Law stipulates that marriage is marriage is a physical and spiritual bond between a man and a woman as husband and wife with the aim of forming a happy and eternal family (household) based on the One Almighty God. Stratification and differences in position or caste in customs can give birth to customs/traditions of forced marriage, for example. Forced marriage or matchmaking is an actual problem that occurs in society that needs attention in society in Indonesia, including the community in the Kei Islands which is famous for the “Larvul Ngabal” Customary Law which is often the main basis for the Kei indigenous community in carrying out the tradition or custom of marriage. This study employs an empirical juridical research method, utilizing both primary and secondary data sources. The research is conducted in the Southeast Maluku Regency, specifically in the Ratschap Yarbadang area of the Ohoi/Tetoat village in the Southeast Maluku Regency of the Maluku Province. The results that in marriage relationships due to the implementation of the caste system, especially in the upper caste (mel-mel) they want an endogamous caste marriage, with the intention that their family members marry people of the same caste. Thus, by highlighting the influence of caste in marriage, the prohibition of marriage outside of caste in the Kei Islands explains the marriage system in the Kei Islands as an endogamous caste marriage system. Marriage between a man and a woman is valid if there is an agreement between the two without any coercion, including in the principle of Human Rights which rejects restrictions on ethnicity, race, religion and class in marriage. This is certainly contrary to the caste endogamy system adopted by the community of the Kei Islands, which prohibits inter-caste marriages.