Indonesian women get husbands' pay to stop affairs

Thousands of male Indonesian civil servants had their monthly pay transferred to their wives' bank accounts this week in a bid by a local government to stop men having affairs. The Gorontalo administration on northern Sulawesi island issued the recommendation early this year to its 3,200 civil servants, saying it would help control funds usually spent on mistresses. "Men are usually unable to control their behaviour if they have too much money in their pocket," government spokesman Rifly Katili told AFP. "I'm pretty sure this will eliminate the possibility of love affairs that undermine families." About 90 percent of the workers are voluntarily taking part in the initiative, Katili said. "This kind of initiative will also empower the employees' wives to learn about ho usehold budget management," he said. Katili said many wives had complained to the governor that their husbands withheld how much they earned, typically between one and four million rupiah ($110-$440) a month. Katili did not know how many civil servants had cheated on their wives. "Unfortunately, we never researched that."