Accusation of Divorce
In early 2005 the Divorce Agreement was working, so we agreed that it was time to divorce.
I would use Austrindo Law Office in Kuta because it seemed well-known in the expat community.
At Austrindo Law Office I was introduced to Mohamed Rifan and I explained the situation. His first question was whether our marriage and the children's births were registered
at the Denpasar records office, because we of course had to be registered as married before we could apply for a divorce.
Frankly, I didn't know; Made had always handled all the government paperwork. I told Made what we need when I returned home and she gave me a handful of documents Austrindo would need
for the registrations, and Rifan began to prepare the proceedings.
An odd development...
I was out of the house three weeks later on 23 April 2005 when a pembantu (house-staff) Ni Made Artini called to urge me to return home immediately.
I drove in to find several of the pembantus reading a court summons (addressed to me, but don't expect much privacy in Bali). Made Jati had filed an Accusation of Divorce
of our 1996 marriage in Kuta, and the pembantus were astonished because they had been with us for years and knew that
this was entirely untrue—there had never been a 1996 marriage in Kuta.
I was confused; we had agreed that I would file the divorce and she knew that I had started with Austrindo Law Office two weeks ago. I fact she had given me some family documents
to help the filing. So why had she filed first?
It was strange, but I was not concerned until two close Balinese friends stepped up.
Ni Made Artini was the pembantu who cared for Sean and Brenden. Made and Artini already had a difficult relationship because the boys were close to Artini and always ran
to her when they needed comfort,
so although Made was irritated she wasn't sufficiently motivated to spend more time with the boys to change the situation.
I Nyoman Sudana was the chief builder who collaborated with me on house and shop and restaurant designs and taught me valuable lessons in Balinese building and custom.
(Let's try to make this easy: 'Bali Sudra caste often uses only four names: 'Wayan' for 1st born, 'Made' (pronounced 'Ma-day') 'for 2nd born, 'Nyoman' for 3rd born, and 'Ketut' for 4th born.
At 5th born you start over again with 'Wayan'. 'I' means male and 'Ni' means female. We will call Ni Made Artini as 'Artini' to avoid confusion with Ni Made Jati.
If you are wondering how you avoid confusion in Bali, sometimes you don't—it gets confusing.)
It took them a while to explain—they had seen things like this before, it was not unusual. The danger, I needed to know, was not just legal, but spiritual and physical.
The falsification of the date of the Balinese ceremony to 1996 was potentially disastrous. Our children were born in 1993 and 1994.
Made was claiming that the children were born out of wedlock; under Indonesian law I had no parental rights to them.
Her more important purpose—at least as Made Jati would probably see it—appeared to be control of the family assets if she could claim them as her assets before marriage.
I drove immediately to Austrindo Law Office to meet Rifan. He assured me Austrindo could handle it, there was no need to report fraud to the police because
the false documents would be exposed in court; I had no cause to worry.
On returning home, Made was there, but when I tried to confront her, she screamed "My lawyer told me not to talk to you! We can settle in court!" and slammed the door. And she
took that advice fully to heart, because from that day to this neither she nor any of her fan club has ever talked to me again.
I was soon to meet the fan club—Made's Angels, they called themselves.
Nameless at first, but they assured me in anonymous emails that they knew where I lived and were ready to for action.
When they later went public they were mostly all expats, ready for any kind of necessary action except to actually speak to me.
Made Artini and Nyoman Sudana had been worried about danger from Indonesians, but it appeared that a number of expats might also be a problem.
Ni Made Jati yang lain
Pada awal tahun 2005, Perjanjian Perceraian berjalan lancar, jadi kami sepakat bahwa sudah saatnya untuk bercerai. Saya akan menggunakan Kantor Hukum Austrindo di Kuta karena tampaknya kantor tersebut cukup terkenal di kalangan komunitas ekspatriat.
Di Kantor Hukum Austrindo, saya diperkenalkan kepada Mohamed Rifan dan saya menjelaskan situasinya. Pertanyaan pertamanya adalah apakah pernikahan kami dan kelahiran anak-anak kami telah terdaftar di kantor catatan sipil Denpasar, karena tentu saja kami harus terdaftar sebagai pasangan suami istri sebelum dapat mengajukan perceraian.
Sejujurnya, saya tidak tahu; Made selalu mengurus semua urusan administrasi pemerintahan. Saya memberi tahu Made apa yang kami butuhkan ketika saya kembali ke rumah dan dia memberi saya beberapa dokumen yang dibutuhkan Austrindo untuk pendaftaran, dan Rifan mulai mempersiapkan prosesnya.
Tiga minggu kemudian, pada tanggal 23 April 2005, saya sedang berada di luar rumah ketika seorang pembantu rumah tangga, Ni Made Artini, menelepon dan mendesak saya untuk segera pulang. Saya pun pulang dan mendapati beberapa pembantu sedang membaca surat panggilan pengadilan (yang ditujukan kepada saya, tetapi jangan berharap banyak privasi di Bali). Made Jati telah mengajukan gugatan cerai atas pernikahan kami tahun 1996 di Kuta, dan para pembantu terkejut karena mereka telah bersama kami selama bertahun-tahun dan tahu bahwa itu sepenuhnya tidak benar—tidak pernah ada pernikahan tahun 1996 di Kuta.
Saya bingung; kami telah sepakat bahwa saya yang akan mengajukan gugatan cerai dan dia tahu bahwa saya telah memulai prosesnya dengan Kantor Hukum Austrindo dua minggu sebelumnya. Bahkan dia telah memberi saya beberapa dokumen keluarga untuk membantu pengajuan gugatan tersebut. Jadi mengapa dia mengajukan gugatan terlebih dahulu?
Itu aneh, tetapi saya tidak khawatir sampai dua teman dekat saya dari Bali angkat bicara.
Ni Made Artini adalah pembantu yang merawat Sean dan Brenden. Made dan Artini sudah memiliki hubungan yang sulit karena anak-anak dekat dengan Artini dan selalu lari kepadanya ketika mereka membutuhkan kenyamanan, jadi meskipun Made kesal, dia tidak cukup termotivasi untuk menghabiskan lebih banyak waktu dengan anak-anak untuk mengubah situasi tersebut.
I Nyoman Sudana adalah kepala tukang bangunan yang berkolaborasi dengan saya dalam desain rumah, toko, dan restoran, serta mengajarkan saya pelajaran berharga tentang bangunan dan adat istiadat Bali.
Butuh waktu bagi mereka untuk menjelaskan—mereka pernah melihat hal-hal seperti ini sebelumnya, itu bukan hal yang tidak biasa. Bahayanya, yang perlu saya ketahui, bukan hanya masalah hukum, tetapi juga spiritual dan fisik.
Pemalsuan tanggal upacara adat Bali menjadi tahun 1996 berpotensi menimbulkan bencana. Anak-anak kami lahir pada tahun 1993 dan 1994. Made mengklaim bahwa anak-anak itu lahir di luar nikah; menurut hukum Indonesia, saya tidak memiliki hak asuh atas mereka. Tujuan utamanya—setidaknya seperti yang mungkin dilihat Made Jati—tampaknya adalah untuk menguasai aset keluarga jika dia dapat mengklaimnya sebagai aset miliknya sebelum menikah.
Saya langsung pergi ke Kantor Hukum Austrindo untuk bertemu Rifan. Dia meyakinkan saya bahwa Austrindo dapat menanganinya, tidak perlu melaporkan penipuan itu ke polisi karena dokumen palsu tersebut akan terungkap di pengadilan; saya tidak perlu khawatir.
Sekembalinya ke rumah, Made ada di sana, tetapi ketika saya mencoba berbicara dengannya, dia berteriak, "Pengacara saya menyuruh saya untuk tidak berbicara dengan Anda! Kita bisa menyelesaikannya di pengadilan!" dan membanting pintu. Dan dia benar-benar menuruti nasihat itu, karena sejak hari itu hingga sekarang, baik dia maupun kelompok pendukungnya tidak pernah berbicara kepada saya lagi.
Saya segera bertemu dengan kelompok pendukung itu—Made's Angels, demikian mereka menyebut diri mereka. Awalnya tanpa nama, tetapi mereka meyakinkan saya melalui email anonim bahwa mereka tahu di mana saya tinggal dan siap untuk bertindak. Ketika kemudian mereka tampil di depan umum, sebagian besar dari mereka adalah ekspatriat, siap untuk melakukan tindakan apa pun yang diperlukan kecuali benar-benar berbicara kepada saya.
Made Artini dan Nyoman Sudana khawatir akan bahaya dari orang Indonesia, tetapi tampaknya sejumlah ekspatriat juga bisa menjadi masalah.