Why are there many abandoned wives and children in Indonesia?

Tales of woe are all over dating sites, just as there are lots of ghost stories on the net about cars disappearing on the toll roads.

Divorce here requires a 50/50 split of all assets except inherited wealth in any form.

What Fred said is true, is she sues you, you're done. Most likely the judge will side to the wive but most importantly, Indonesian. I can assure you no matter who is at fault, if it gets to court, you'll lose.

It's another story if you married a country folk(by no mean to offend anyone), generally someone less educated, less fortunate(in terms of money), and tends to avoid problem. This type of woman/wive will likely not do anything if their husband leave them. Even though this is hard for me to say the truth, they are poor and afraid that the police will try to "get incentive" from them if they press charges (that's Indonesian mindset btw, unless you got connection to the government or are loaded).

In conclusion, if you can speak Bahasa, you'll likely find this "rumour" to be true. But if you marry an Indonesian that can speak English, chances are, she's well educated and will sue you for every penny you got if you left her.

Yes, makes sense.

Alot of women on these dating sites have a truck load of hard luck stories.  I've been scammed by a few from Indonesia,  and still more from Morocco.  Why because I was new to these sites and didn't know that people could be so wicked to take advantage of the innocent.  Alhamdulillah I've been married now for 11+years to very nice and innocent lady with very very respectful family.

The true fact is rich or poor a lot of Indonesian man treat their wife's like maids... some just just promised the villagers a good life as soon as the are tired of them then they abandon the female and the kids and do it all over again. The Dame happened with the educated females. The law sucks in these situation and the male can get away with anything.. It is very hard for the female to state her case..but as the others mentioned there is scammers with nice fairly tales....my advice is to have a long relationship before  commitment. There are sweet innocent ladies and bad one's .. and some sweet ones being abused.

As the last person said...There are Good there are Bad... But No Matter what Using the site for meeting is OK but don't jump to conclusions Before getting to know them in person....I went thru it all myself...3 or 4  bad before the right one!!!..And yes there are a lot with woe stories.. That's a Fact...As soon as I heard the woe story Alarm went off in my head.Till the Right one came along! . Thank Goodness lol... Happy Looking!

Perhaps it would be better to clarify the situation.

In many villages here education is difficult, usually because families don't have the cash to pay for it.
Families are often 'traditional' in nature, the man working and the wife at home with the kids.
When it comes to family cash and education, as the boys end up the breadwinner, they come first when it comes to paying school fees. This isn't sexism as such, more a practicality that is really the only way parents can assist their kids.
It gets worse. As many of the poorest families can't afford to keep the kids, many get married off way too young, so we end up with a new generation of lowly educated poor families, and there restarts the cycle.
Of course, that leaves girls way to young to cope with marriage and kids married to men that are also way too young and often badly educated, so poverty has a field day, and that strains the marriage even more.
The divorce rate is high, the woman ends up with the kids, and there we have a situation similar to the one described in the thread.
The husband might well have gone, but the single woman's poverty isn't down to the husband running off with all the cash because there was no cash in the first place.
I lived in a village for several years and saw this way too many times.

1) Widows and divorcees are stigmatized, so it's possible the net is the answer.
2) Polygamy is legal there (not only Muslims), so they don't HAVE to leave one to be with the new flame.
3) Divorce is easy for men, no need to abandon them.
4) Probably just the latest popular scam... sick buffalo died, moving on.

Go, Make friends, meet a regular girl that everyone says is a good girl. That's my .02 anyway.
I married a Thai 13 years ago and we have never argued and love each other very much.
Best move I've ever made.

1) Widows and divorcees are not stigmatized, so it's impossible that's the answer.
2) Polygamy is not legal here, but happens sometimes
3) Divorce is easy for men  and women, but all property is divided 50/50
4) A load of old crap is put on the internet by clueless people