IGNORING FAMILY LAW ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE Falsifying Death of Spouses for the Registration of New Marriage in Lengayang Muslim Community

The exercise of the right to register marriage and divorce frequently has to deal with the complexity of the administrative procedure. Consequently, many marriages and divorces are not registered in state institutions which lead to the next difficulty of registering new marriages for those who unregistered their divorce previously. However, a different fact happens in Lengayang, where local and state authorities collaborated to tackle administrative constraints. This paper sheds light on the shortcut taken by the Lengayang people who falsified the death of their spouses to legally register their new marriages. Data was collected through interviews and document analysis. It is then analyzed qualitatively. This article reveals that the falsification of death was utilized by Lengayang people to wittingly subdue the legal administration. This practice was backed up by the local authorities, such as ninik mamak as a customary institution, wali jorong or wali nagari as the head of the villages. The economy (the high cost), the geography (the distance of the religious court from people's domiciles), and the deadlock of social relationships between


Introduction
Al-Aḥwāl, Vol. 15, No. 1, (2022) Children of unregistered married couples whose iṡbat applications were rejected by the Religious Court are susceptible to administrative difficulties.
The subject of unregistered marriages, for example, has been studied by Zubir,8 and Al Farabi. 9 They found that 59.35% of the 246 families in Sinarrancang Village, Cirebon, had unregistered marriages. They refer to it as kawin kiyai-a term used to denote a marriage carried out in the presence of a religious figure without state officials. According to Sodiq 10 and Adillah, 11 the problems of registering marriages rest on the existence of legal dualism caused by the dominance of the ulama (Islamic scholar) doctrine in the legislation of the marriage law, which contributes to the diversity of interpretations of marriage validity. This legal dualism is exemplified in the Constitutional Court's decision 46/PUU VIII/2010 regarding civil cases involving children born in unregistered marriages. On the one hand, the decision appears to provide legal protection for the child's rights, while on the other hand, it appears to have sparked a controversy over the civil rights of the child and his biological father. 12 Even for some people, the Constitutional Court's decision is viewed as legalizing adultery, as demonstrated by the research of Pusvita, 13 Al Farabi, 'Budaya "Kawin Kyai" Studi Terhadap Praktek Nikah Sirri Di Desa Sinarrancang, Kecamatan Mundu, Kabupaten Cirebon', Al-Ahwal: Jurnal Hukum Keluarga Islam, vol. 4, no. 1 (2011), pp. 21-56. 10  Based on the aforementioned background, this research seeks to reveal the reasons for death falsifications by men and women while still legally married to their spouses in Lengayang. This is field research that employed both primary and secondary data. Data were collected through interviews with women and men who falsified the death of their spouses, the family of each party, the Ninik mamak, Wali jorong, Wali nagari, the head of the KUA, and local clerics who legalize and authorize the falsification. The collected data were then qualitatively described and analyzed.

Portrait of the Lengayang Community
The sub-district of Lengayang is located at 100° 40.38'-101° 50' east longitude and 1° 23.51-1° 455°.54' south latitude. The total area measured is approximately 590.6 Km² or 10.27% of the area of Pesisir Selatan Regency. In 2017, the population of this sub-district was estimated to be 52,592 people. All residents are adherent to Islam. As part of the Bukit Barisan stretch, the topography of the Lengayang sub-district is flat and hilly. The majority of the Lengayang sub-district is forest, with 53.69% of the land area. This sub-district comprises 9 nagari, namely Lakitan, Kambang, Lakitan Selatan, Lakitan Tengah, Lakitan Timur, Lakitan Utara, Kambang Barat, Kambang Utara, and Kambang Timur. 24 Each of these nagari also has 5-10 jorong. This sub-district has one Office of Religious Affairs (KUA), which is located at Padang Marapalam-Lakitan Street, 3 kilometers from the capital of the Lengayang sub-district. The Religious Court is located in Painan, the capital of Pesisir Selatan Regency, 67 kilometers from Lengayang subdistrict's most remote area.
Nagari is the lowest government in the Lengayang sub-district, while the jorong is an extension of the nagari and is led by the Wali jorong, who is part of the nagari apparatus. 25 The number of ASN (State Civil Apparatus) in the Lengayang sub-district office was 20 people, consisting of 7 high school graduates and 13 college graduates. Each region has its own set of customs that are tailored to the region.

Authority
The Lengayang community believes that divorce religiously is legal and can be proven by handwriting or a witness who witnesses the divorce. They believe that divorce in front of a local cleric is equivalent to divorce in a religious court. Divorce in Religious Courts is not the only option. It is not much significant. 26 Therefore, they assume that it is sufficient to simply utter the divorce word and have it witnessed by family or people considered to understand Islamic law due to divorces in Religious Courts being administratively complicated.
In general, the local government has issued regulations governing sidang keliling in other divorce proceedings. This is intended for areas far from the courts, as specified in the The large numbers of Lengayang community members who divorce outside of court also result in their second and third marriages. On the one hand, they recognize that in order to carry out a marriage, they must meet the KUA's requirements and conditions. A divorcee, for example, must include a divorce certificate from the religious court, and a widow should provide a death decree from the Nagari. However, as previously stated, irregularities occur among those who do not divorce through the courts. As a condition for registering their new marriages at the KUA, they made a Letter of Responsibility stating that their spouses had died even though he or she is still alive. This falsification occurred because those who had not been divorced by the court are required to complete these requirements in order to remarry at the KUA officially. If the marriage requirements were not met, they would be unable to register their new marriage. As a result, they chose to  Ninik mamak, as a custom institution, is the first to propose a Letter of Responsibility, which contained a statement of death. One of them explained that registering a death statement with the KUA is one of the simplest ways to enter into a new marriage. If the Mamak (tribal chief) provides a Letter of Responsibility, the Wali nagari will issue a death decree. Essentially, the Letter of Responsibility is written as an assurance that Mamak or any other party who has been declared dead will not sue in the future. If someone sues, Mamak is fully responsible for his nephew or niece who is about to marry.
In this case, the Wali nagari is the first to absolve of any responsibility or risk of falsifying the death, blaming the tribal chief's Ninik mamak entirely. The letter is routed through not demand any responsibility from him after the letter was issued. If he is sued for the contents of the falsified letter, the Wali jorong refers the case back to the Ninik mamak and the bride and groom as the parties who filed the fake death certificate.
Wali jorong and Wali nagari are fully aware that issuing a fake letter containing a death statement puts them in legal jeopardy, but they also want to ensure the legality of second or third marriages for those who require it. If no accountability letter is provided by

13
The obligation to register marriages creates numerous obstacles in the community.
On the one hand, it appears that people's understanding of the importance of registering their marriage has not taken root. This is evidenced by an increase in applications for iṡbat in every religious court. Local religious authorities, on the other hand, create opportunities to ease the implementation of marriage regulations by allowing unregistered marriages and ratifying divorce outside the religious court. Among the legal consequences are difficulties in carrying out a second registered marriage. The couple's efforts to make a death statement of their ex-spouses are done on purpose so that their new marriages can be officially registered at KUA. The death decree is not without risk because death has particular consequences for the living in Islamic law. If the deceased is married, his partner will be divorced, and if he owns the property, it must be divided immediately by Islamic inheritance law (faraidh). If the deceased is in debt, the heirs must pay it. If the deceased is a man with a daughter, guardianship is transferred to another person in the guardianship lineage. However, if the death is staged on purpose, the legal consequences will be chaotic and unclear.
The bravery of the customary authority (Ninik mamak) in signing a statement of death raises questions. In this situation, their authority appears to be greater than that of the KUA, which acts as the state law's enforcer. This is evidenced by the KUA's acceptance of the requirements submitted by the couple. KUA appears to have no reason to reject their application for marriage registration because the conditions they presented are in accordance with the law, even though the KUA officials are aware substantially that the person declared dead in a letter legalized by the Nagari is still alive. Besides, this condition can also be seen differently. On the one hand, the KUA continues to carry out its function on behalf of the state to register marriages following the mandate of the law because there are no objections that prevent or impede the registration. On the other hand, customary authorities can confirm that the applicant for registration has indeed divorced the deceased spouse before local religious authorities and family members. Therefore, the KUA, as the representative of the state, and the Ninik mamak who represents custom and religious authorities (Islamic law) reach compromises that benefit both parties.
Al  (2) and article 4 of this law". Article 15 states that "whoever because of his marriage is still bound by one of the two parties and on the basis of the existence of a marriage can prevent a new marriage without reducing the provisions of Article 3 Paragraph (2) and Article 4. As well as Article 21 paragraph (1) mentions: "if the marriage registrar argues that the marriage is prohibited according to this law, then he refuses to carry out the marriage".
The preceding explanation demonstrates that a man cannot marry a woman who is married to another man, and vice versa. To remarry, a divorced person must submit a divorce decree from the Religious Court, or a widow or widower must submit a death certificate for the deceased spouse. A valid divorce can only be granted by a Religious Court and is evidenced by a divorce decree. In the Lengayang community, however, those who have not been divorced by the Religious Court are permitted to remarry, and their marriages are registered at the KUA. This violates the administrative rule that a new marriage cannot be conducted and registered without a divorce decree.
In 2018, there were more marriages at the Lengayang sub-district KUA than in 2017.
In 2017, out of 567 recorded marriages, only 3 couples submitted marriage requirements by attaching a divorce decree. In 2017, 6 marriage cases were also recorded by attaching a By so doing, they could register their second marriage easily although they were not divorced at the Painan Religious Court.
In another case, three men, initials SF, M, and R, stated that they had signed a Letter of Responsibility stating that their wives had died. They claimed that their wives had previously married other men without first divorcing them. Their wives had also declared their death in order to register their second marriage. They did this because the requirement to register marriages at the KUA is to attach a divorce certificate from the Religious Courts for those who are divorced, and a certificate of death of their spouse for those who are widowed. They were clearly not divorced through the Religious Courts, so they lacked a divorce decree as a result the only option was to create a fake death statement signed by Wali nagari. The same action was also performed by ES and AM, men from Nagari Kambang Utara. There are numerous ways for the bride and groom to fulfill the requirements at KUA. We also discovered requirements (documents) that were not true or fake, such as ID cards, and family cards, as well as evidence of death certificate falsification.
Based on the description above, the divorce of the Lengayang people outside of court has a significant impact on the implementation of orderly marriage in the area.
Referring to information from the perpetrators, nuclear family, Ninik mamak, local clerics, and authorized officials in the Lengayang sub-district, the simplest way to proceed is to issue a death certificate for one of the parties (wife or husband), which is unable to prove through SIMKAH Web (state marriage application), except by presenting relatives of the person who has been declared dead. They made a statement about their spouse's death as if it were true because it was made by an authorized person/official.

Conclusion
The falsification of death starts with the divorce outside the court. This research shows that many factors contribute to unofficial divorce, including the community's poor economy, distance from religious courts, and deadlock of social relations between spouses.
This demonstrates the community's 'legal awareness,' which has resulted in the 'abuse' of authority (of ninik mamak) in managing new marriages for Lengayang people. Indeed, there Al-Aḥwāl, Vol. 15, No. 1, (2022) are numerous cases in marital affairs that illustrate people's disobedience to the rule of law, such as illegal polygamy marriage, which is caused by the absence of strict sanctions. It can be concluded that the falsification of death for registering a new marriage is also due to structural support from local authorities who should be on the front lines, such as Ninik mamak, Wali jorong, and Wali nagari, as well as local state religious officials to enforce the state law. It seems resulted in the weakening of state laws and regulations enforcement, which deteriorates institutions such as the KUA and Religious Courts that administer marriage and divorce arrangements. On the other hand, local apparatus such as the Wali jorong and Wali nagari are the first to weaken the rule of law by allowing society to legalize the death of living spouses. To justify from the state law, this practice is an act of maladministration, but in the context of marriage, this falsification is the most efficient way to circumvent the complexities of administration. This is according to the Lengayang people. This phenomenon demonstrates that customary authorities play a major role in simplifying the administrative burden of marriage in Lengayang case.