Cohabitation

Can two mature men and women live together without being married?

Can couples who have no valid marriage bond do what husband-wife does?

No? Yes? Are you sure?

Na ah, absolutely It can be! We are mature, we have the right to do whatever we wanna
do, right? Hold on, But for us, it is totally forbidden. Unfortunately!

Up to here. Can you guys guess what fascinating topic we are going to discuss?

Yes, precisely. Cohabitation.

What is cohabitation? I am sure that we all already know what it is or even maybe we have
been done this? Who knows. Just kidding..

Oke, let’s continue. Cohabitation is the act of living together as a couple husband and wife
without being married. Cohabitation has become increasingly common in today's society,
including our beloved country, Indonesia. So what do you think, is this negative or positive
development?

As an individual who will study overseas, we cannot be taboo about this issue since in
foreign culture, cohabitation is common worldwide. This because of some reasons, such as:

1. Financial Reasons: to save on living costs

2. Delaying Marriage:Many individuals are choosing to prioritize their careers and

personal growth before settling down.

3. Social Acceptance: there's a growing acceptance of cohabitation by society. The more

society accept the mora normal it is

In addition, according to the United Nations, the number of cohabiting couples has
increased significantly in many countries. In developed countries such as the US, UK and
European country, cohabitation rates have been steadily rising, and become the biggest
number of cohabitation in the world. Many couples choose to live together before marriage
or instead of getting married. In these countries, cohabitation is seen as a natural step in a
relationship, and many couples even choose to live together without feeling pressured to
get married. For instace, the most famous footbal player, do you know who? Yah exactly,
Christiano Ronaldo is one of the one who do cohabitation, has been together around 10
years with his wife, Georgina Rodriguez. Furthermore, they has three daughters already.

Hence, we have not to be so surprised in case we get a scholarship abroad, and we have to
share a house with different gender which is not common in our country or find out our
friend, or our roommates stay together with his/her partner doing husband-wife stuff. Don’t
judge. Don’t be too innocent or too kind by giving them some advice or lecture them, don’t
do that. Just don’t.

How about us? Can we do this cohabitation?

Now, let's turn our attention to Indonesia. In Indonesian society, traditional values and
religious beliefs play a significant role in shaping attitudes towards relationships and
marriage. Therefore, cohabitation means kumpul kebo in indonesia is seen as a disgraceful
act, violating the rules, norms, moral, social, cultural and values of Indonesia's
characteristics. So the punishment of this issue in indonesia is quite serious, not only give
them social punishment like being isolated by people but laso can be criminalized based on
RUU KUHP pasal 411 can be punished minimum of 1 year in jail and fine 30 million. In the
worts case, they who committed cohabitation in indonesia are paraded emberresingly
without any cloths. Isnt that too much?

Even though cohabitation is not as common as in Western countries, unfortunately, it can’t

be denied that cohabitation is becoming more common, especially in urban areas in
Indonesia. More young Indonesians are choosing cohabitation as a path to love, freedom,
and personal growth.

All in all, what I wanna say is, we have to be open minded that cohabitation is common in
some countries. However, cohabitation is not our culture. Not representative of our
custom.So, no matter how advanced and modern we are when we study in top universities
abroad, we have to be wise and smart about which culture we can accept. Wherever
countries we visit in the future, don’t normalize cohabitation or even bring that culture of
cohabitation to Indonesia.

Thank you, next I open discussion, please, do you have any questions?