VP Ma'ruf Amin Rejects Childfree: "Wedding Is For Breeding Humans"

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - The childfree discourse has recently provoked both criticism and curiosity for Indonesian netizens. The topic was put into the spotlight after a social media influencer Gita Savitri Dewi mentioned the benefit of childfree.

Gita commented on her Instagram that being childfree has helped her to prevent aging.

Twitter users in Indonesia have been fiercely debating the issue. Some acknowledge the rights to be childfree, others appreciate the idea to ease the over-population and its negative implications, while many vehemently spurn the idea.

Vice President of Indonesia, Ma'ruf Amin, also spoke about the issue. The former head of the Ulema Council of Indonesia rejected the childfree decision because humans must take care of the world until the armageddon day.

He also asserted that the wedding's purpose would be for "breeding humans".

"So, wedding is meant to breed humans through marriage, thus humans grow and can keep managing earth until its end limit to the armageddon day," said VP Ma'ruf Amin as reported by the state news agency, Antara.

Ma'ruf said that during his visit to the West Nusa Tenggara, Friday (10/2). Furthermore, he said that no children would mean no successors.

"Then who would continue the world? So, nobody. Nobody would be a journalist. Nobody. Because there is no descendant," he explained.

Ma'ruf, however, understood if a couple would postpone to have a child for a year or two.

Indonesia currently has 275 million people, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. But the tales of the low birth-rate in Japan and South Korea have also become a discourse in Indonesia.

Traditionally, the older generations in Indonesia have the maxim  "more children, more fortune", although the more financially sophisticated younger generations may not necessarily share the old view.

Regarding anti-aging, the beauty expert dr. Dwindi Saptania M. Biomed (AAM) disagreed with Gita's view. She revealed that many of her patients were still looking good in their 50s.

"I have many patients in their 50s, who have two children, but their bodies are better than those who are nearly 40 and have no children," said Dwindi to Health Liputan6.com.

Dwindi is the Managing Director of Evitderma Clinic in Jakarta. These days, she said, it has gotten easier to find mothers in their 50s who appear like in their 20s.

She also talked about treatments to appear youthful such as the Ultrasound Softwave which is dubbed as "Sultan Treatment".

"With such treatments, if they have tight maintenance, for example coming every three months to an aesthetic clinic, the result can be seen on your own," said Dwindi.

"So it's all actually about maintenance. The key is long-term, must be continuous. Nothing is instant," she said.