Indonesia salary policy 'to address cheating husbands'

A new government policy in northern Indonesia will enable wives of civil servants to have direct access to their husbands' salaries, officials say.

The Gorontalo provincial government in Sulawesi will be transferring the pay of married civil servants to their wives' bank accounts from March.

The move is aimed at curbing extra-marital affairs, spokesman Rudi Iriawan told the BBC.

Many wives had complained about a lack of transparency on financial matters.

According to Rudi Iriawan, provincial governor Rusli Habibie had received numerous complaints that civil servants "only gave their wives some money to buy meals on a daily basis".

The wives alleged that their husbands were blocking financial access because they may be having affairs.