Family Secrets

I cannot claim the following story – it was related to me by my field team. However, I couldn’t resist telling it it, as it is both very Indonesian and very funny.

In Indonesia, a man is allowed to have up to four wives, as long as he can support all of them. I have a few friends who grew up in such families, though I’ve never knowingly met a husband or wife in this situation.

Now you’ve got the necessary background for my story.

Last trip to the field, Neli and Pita took pictures of our taxi driver in Ketapang and his beautiful young wife. We’ve known the driver Angga for years, and we often give printed photos to our friends in the field, as a “thank-you” for all their help. When Neli and Pita returned to Ketapang with the photos, Angga was out of town, so my field team took them to Angga’s house and gave them to his wife. But, ooops, this was not the same woman!! She took one look at the photos and realized what had happened: Angga was married to TWO women, but had not told the first wife (the one Neli and Pita gave the photos to) about the second wife (the one in the photos).

Angga, surprisingly, was simply amused by the whole situation. The first wife was not very amused. I couldn’t stop laughing.