Domestic helper marries S’porean man while having husband and 6 children in Indonesia, gets jailed for bigamy
An Indonesian woman who was married with six children fell in love with a Singaporean man while working here as a domestic helper before tying the knot with him, for which she was later sentenced to two months’ jail for bigamy.
The 51-year-old, Aminan Sidauruk, pleaded guilty to one count of bigamy. A second charge of falsely declaring that she was unmarried was taken into consideration during sentencing.
According to Shin Min Daily News, court documents showed that Aminan married a man in a Catholic wedding in Indonesia on Aug 6, 1992. The couple have never divorced, and they remain legally married.
Between 2010 and 2012, she left Indonesia to work overseas, leaving her six children under her husband’s care.
In early 2025, while employed as a domestic helper in Singapore, Aminan met a Singaporean man online. The pair developed a romantic relationship soon after meeting in person and decided to settle down together.
Man falsely declares woman was single
On July 25, 2025, the Singaporean submitted a marriage application to the Registry of Marriages (ROM). Although he knew Aminan was already married, he declared in the application that she was single.
The couple appeared before the ROM to make a statutory declaration on Sept 2, 2025, in which Aminan claimed she had never been married and was single. They officially registered their marriage on Oct 27, 2025.
However, the police received a tip-off from ROM that Aminan might have committed bigamy. Following investigations, she was arrested on Apr 15, 2026.
The prosecution argued that Aminan’s actions had caused harm to her husband and six children in Indonesia, seeking a jail term of between three and four months.
It added that she repeatedly misrepresented her marital status in both the marriage application and the statutory declaration, suggesting that the offence was premeditated rather than an impulsive decision.
In mitigation, the defence said Aminan had registered the marriage because she genuinely loved the Singaporean man.
Counsel noted that the marriage lasted only a few months, that she had acknowledged her wrongdoing and pleaded guilty, therefore urging the court to impose a sentence of one to two months’ imprisonment.
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