A 16 year old Indonesian boy has threatened to commit suicide if his family doesn’t allow him to marry the woman of his choice, his 71 year old lover.
A 16 year old Indonesian boy has threatened to commit suicide if his family doesn’t allow him to marry the woman of his choice, his 71 year old lover. The pair eventually tied the knot after they threatened to kill themselves if their families blocked their union. Selamat Riayadi married his bride Rohaya and the marriage is not believed to be motivated by money, as both newlyweds are equally poor.
Selamat’s family made a dowry payment to Rohaya’s family of 200,000 Indonesian Rupiah, worth about £11.50. According to Daily Mirror, an Indonesian news outlet claims it spoke to Kuswoyo who confirmed both the marriage and the couple’s threats to kill themselves if they were barred from marrying.
He said: “They said they wanted to commit suicide because they were completely in love, so if one of them dies, then both must die.
Rohaya had been married twice and also widowed twice. It is Selamat’s first marriage. The official minimum age for boys to marry in Indonesia is 19 but a loophole allows for any marriage within a person’s ‘religious norms’.