Have you seen the news in the past few weeks? There is a couple from Lombok who is in the spotlight of the Indonesian people because of their relatively young age to be living a married life. How could it not be? The couple had just turned 14 for the bride and 17 for the groom. Very young age. This certainly invited many eyes to see how the case continued.

The case of child marriage must certainly be a concern for all Indonesian people. Teaching children to prepare for the future is the responsibility of parents. If you think that marrying children to reduce financial burdens, it doesn’t feel right. This should also be one of the problems that the government pays attention to. The problem of poverty often makes parents have no choice but to marry off their children rather than having to bear the financial burden.

What Really Happened

Quoting from data provided by detik.com The percentage of child marriage cases in West Nusa Tenggara Province (NTB) in 2024 reached 14.96 percent. This figure is above the national average of 5.6 percent.

Head of the Special Protection Division for Children of the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Service for Population Control and Family Planning (DP3AP2KB) Sri Wahyuni ​​said that in 2025 child marriages reached 143 cases.

This data was only published on June 6, 2025, which means that only 6 months into 2025, the number of child marriages can be said to be high in Lombok.

The case of underage marriage has again caught the public’s attention in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB). This time, a teenage couple from Central Lombok (Loteng) who went viral for holding a nyongkolan procession, a traditional Sasak wedding tradition, became the spotlight after their video was widely circulated on social media. It is known that the bride with the initials SMY (15 years old) and the groom SR (17 years old) are still students. The marriage caused controversy because it was carried out outside the minimum age limit stipulated in Law Number 1 of 1974 concerning Marriage, which is 19 years old.

Even in some video clips, when the bride and groom are doing the nyongkolan activity, the woman looks angry. Although it is not known why she is angry, it feels like when we want to get married we need to have emotional stability because marriage is something sacred and emotional stability is needed to respect each other.

Quoted from detik.com, the Head of the Child Protection Agency (LPA) of Mataram City, Joko Jumadi, highlighted the bride’s unusual behavior in the viral video. However, he emphasized that his party could not yet conclude the child’s psychological condition without a medical examination.

“Later. We can’t confirm that yet. Later during the police examination process. We can’t justify why, everything must go through a medical examination, and we will do that,” he explained.

Joko reported the alleged child marriage case to the Central Lombok Police. This report was made after a video of the nyongkolan procession or Sasak traditional wedding of two teenagers went viral on social media.

“Today, finally, the LPA of Mataram City has reported a complaint about a child marriage that occurred in one of the villages in Central Lombok,”

Joko explained that the report was addressed to all parties suspected of being involved in facilitating the child marriage, including the parents and the marriage registrar.

According to the report, the marriage was reportedly prevented by village officials from both sides. However, the effort failed because the family remained adamant about marrying off their child. It is so sad when parents who should be protectors of their children are the ones who marry off their children when they are not ready.

The incident occurred in May, however, Joko said the marriage did not happen instantly. Previously, there had been several attempts to elope since April 2025. In fact, one of the attempts was broken up by the village government. He also received information that in the last escape, the two children were taken to Sumbawa Island for two days. Because of that, the family finally gave in and allowed the wedding to take place.

Joko explained the reasons behind his report to the Central Lombok Police. He said the step was a form of education for the community regarding the prohibition and legal sanctions for child marriage.

He emphasized that child marriage has serious impacts, not only in terms of education and economy, but also health and social. For example, it has an impact on dropping out of school, poverty, stunting, and maternal and infant mortality. In fact, cases of domestic violence and prostitution are also often rooted in child marriage.

He asked the police to work together with other child protection institutions to provide guidance and rehabilitation for the children involved.

The Phenomenon of Merariq Kodeq (Early Marriage) in Lombok

Merariq kodeq is a term that comes from the Sasak tribe in Lombok. Merariq kodeq consists of two words, namely “merariq” and “kodeq”, both words have their own meanings. Merariq in Indonesian means married, while kodeq itself in Indonesian means a small child or still under age.

So it can be said that merariq kodeq is a marriage performed by a man and a woman who are not yet of age according to the applicable laws in Indonesia. Merariq kodeq in the Sasak tribe in Lombok is very common, it can even be said that most merariq are performed at an immature age. Merariq itself is done by running away with the prospective bride by the groom, so merariq is a slightly different way of marriage from marriages that are usually carried out according to the laws in our country.

This culture continues to take root and even becomes very common. Actually, this phenomenon is not by running away with the bride without prior notification, there must be notification to the woman’s family before running away. However, as time goes by, this culture is often misused to become an elopement. There are several factors that cause many people to do merariq koderq. Among others because of education, economy, and culture. Education greatly influences the way of thinking and understanding something, if you look at it, many Lombok residents do not have access to education, if there is, it is only as a requirement, the rest they will do several activities to meet their daily needs.

Lack of access to education also causes a lot of poverty. How can you work if you don’t get access to education in this day and age? It seems impossible. This structural poverty is also deep-rooted and makes many people desperate and marry off their children. This is exacerbated if they have daughters. Women are considered a financial burden on the family, so this causes a high number of merariq kodeq. Not infrequently you also find many victims of girls who have to marry because they are forced by their parents.

Lastly, cultural factors. Merariq is a tradition from Lombok, but merariq kodeq is wrong. If you marry off a child when they are not ready, then the child will suffer throughout their life. Mental unpreparedness, economic and emotional instability, even unpreparedness of reproductive organs are things that must be considered when wanting to get married. So, it is important for us to choose a culture that we must maintain or that we must abandon. Of course, we must also understand whether the culture that occurs is like that or whether there is a shift in meaning. As residents, we are also required to be smart in choosing a good culture.