Pretty soon you'd need more than a wealth report to run for an office in Indonesia. The law requires that all state officials file reports on their possession -- cash or otherwise -- before, during, and after their tenure. Recent development in the political scene suggests that you also need to be up-front regarding you marital history. You may need to disclose inventories of not only your assets, but also your spouses -- current or otherwise.

Or else Zaenal Ma'arif may come after you.

The ousted Deputy House Speaker has recently charged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for lying about his marital status for admission into the military academy. He wasn't the bachelor he claimed to be but a married man with two children, so goes the allegation.

Zaenal's public accusation of Yudhoyono's veiled past has subsequently escalated into a legal merry-go-round that saw the two men going after each other with police complaints for slander. Zaenal has reportedly dropped his charges recently.

But the circus in our politics was set in motion a while ago. More precisely last December, when Zaenal married his second wife and the Reform Star Party (PBR) instantly recalled him from the deputy speaker position at the House of Representatives. Zaenal insisted that his polygamy was only an excuse for the dismissal, citing rivalry and disagreement with other party bigwigs as the real cause.

His recent incursion into Yudhoyono's marriage history, however, suggests that at the subconscious level Zaenal might have conceded his miscalculation; that he now believed he has been persecuted for polygamy and is out to get political foes with questionable marital standing. It's amazing what guilt can do.

Yet, with mounting hostility from many directions, Zaenal now tries to dodge the blame. "It all started with Hartono," he told the press of the former Army Chief of Staff who brought up the issue of Yudhoyono's past marriage during the 2004 presidential election campaign. But to be honest, Zaenal perhaps wanted to say that it all started with an irresistible divorcee named Yenni Natalia Lodewijk.

Left almost without defenses, Zaenal began wondering out loud why Hartono didn't get the same unforgiving reaction from Yudhoyono for similar allegation. Perhaps he forgot that the man is now president of the republic, not a mere presidential candidate. Also, someone should tell Zaenal, never mess with a man part of whose middle name spells "B-A-N-G"! You can get your political career killed.

Now that Zaenal is no longer the man he used to be -- in politics, that is -- one wonders what goes through the mind of Mrs. Zaenal no. 2 these days. Less than a year ago she was marrying one of the most powerful men in the country. Today she's married to an unemployed who has angered the most powerful man in the country. A lesson, perhaps, for fellow women: make sure he has a steady job before you tie the knot.

The lesson for men, if any, is to make sure that the knot doesn't in turn tie you up. Zaenal's decision to take a second wife has not only led to his discharge, but left him an outcast in politics. His conjugal gain has so soon turned into a political baggage. He has expressed desire to switch party, but so far found no takers. Now that he is a liability, party leaders know better than to bet against women voters in elections.

Still, you can't help but pity Zaenal. Especially now that he confessed to have lived in fear and received threats since he openly clashed with the president. Even though Yudhoyono has emphatically stated that his complaints against Zaenal were filed wholly as a private citizen, some people are fiercely defending "the honor of our president." Too fierce, perhaps, that it would be wise for Yudhoyono to publicly disown and condemn any foul play, done in his defense, against Zaenal.

After all, no matter how amusing our political carnaval has become -- with all the parades, fireworks, clowns, and tricksters -- nobody wants it turned into a freak show.