Women’s rights activists say pornography law intruding into people’s private lives
Mahfiroh, Jakarta — Women’s activists including the Women’s Legal Aid Foundation (LBH APIK) and the Free Women National Network (JRPM) are supporting television host Luna Maya as a victims of the distribution of a private video containing sex scenes. The legal proceedings against Maya are not in accordance with the aims of the anti-pornography law.
The groups said that in the application of the anti-pornography law in the case involving the distribution of a private video containing sex scenes from a computer hard disk belonging to pop star Nazril “Ariel” Irham, his fiancee Luna
Maya has been a victim who in the end became a suspect.“We oppose pornography. [But] we believed that that the ones who are guilty in pornography are the parties that distribute, reproduce and make pornography available at internet cafes (warnet, warung internet). They are the ones who are responsible for pornographic material”, explained women’s activist Yeni Rosa Damayanti in the public complaints room of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) on Friday February 4.
As already pointed out by advocates, continued Yeni Rosa, in the elucidation of Article 4 of the anti-pornography law it states that making a video containing pornography for personal consumption is not a criminal act. “This is what has shocked us”, she said simply.
In the same vein as Yeni Rosa, LBH APIK activist Sri Nur Herawati conceded to feeling anxious because human rights violations have been committed against Ariel, Maya and Cut Tari (his former partner also shown in the sex video). All three are actually the victims of the distribution of a private video containing sex scenes.
“In the Ariel, Luna Maya and Cut Tari case, we have seen a process that is not in fact in accordance with the aims anticipated by the anti-pornography law", she said.
Perempuan Mahardhika activist Vivi Widyawati expressed a similar view saying that the state is intruding too far into people’s private lives. “The state is in fact not protecting [the public], but is actually making the public feel uncomfortable”, she said. (nov)
* Okezone.com - February 4, 2011.
Indonesia survey says early marriages lead girls into lives of desperation
Nurfika Osman, Jakarta — A new study has found that Indonesian girls aged 10 to 18 who were forced into early marriage struggled to secure good futures for themselves or their children due to higher health risks and less access to education.
The Health Ministry study, which collected data from over 20,000 respondents from across the country, showed that 68.5 percent, a little over 13,700, came from villages, many of them from far-flung regions, forcing them to rely upon substandard health care.“These girls are very vulnerable. They are too young to marry. They are not ready, psychologically or physically. When they do get pregnant, they are far more vulnerable to health risks than your average adult,” Tin Affifah, a researcher from the Health Ministry, said on Tuesday.
Tin said the study, conducted between July and August of this year, also showed that the majority of the girls surveyed came from low-income families. Only 31.5 percent of the girls in the poll lived in an urban area.
“There is this intergenerational cycle of marrying early. It effects the quality of the younger generation and it really needs to be a major concern for more people,” Tin said.
According to Tin, this year’s Basic Health Study, or Riskesdas, found that 9 percent of the girls aged between 10 and 14 in the survey had been forced into marriage. The remainder were married at the ages of 15 and 18.
Tin said the survey also discovered that 12.5 percent of the girls, about 2,500, had failed to finish school. “Only 38 percent had even finished elementary school,” Tin said.
Henny Warsilah, a sociologist from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said on Tuesday that another problem with early marriages that Indonesians should be aware of was accompanying human rights violations, including trafficking.
“These girls have no future. They are at risk for unemployment. They often end up choosing to become migrant workers, and legal protections for Indonesian migrant workers remains low,” Henny said.
“Many here still consider it shameful if a teenage girl remains unmarried upon reaching the age of 17. Thus, marriages are hastily arranged as soon as families learn the girls have begun to menstruate,” she said.
“Indonesia needs to issue policies that will legally force parents to send girls to school and only allow them to marry when they reach adulthood.” Henny added that, as most of the girls come from low-income families, the government should provide these families with some financial support so they could start small businesses.
“There should be a nationwide promotional campaign to encourage these girls to become decision makers, making them a more integral part of society.”
* Jakarta Globe - November 24, 2010.
Opposition to woman’s leadership of district wanes
Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh — Opposition by ulema and councilors in Aceh
to a woman becoming district head is reportedly weakening.
Anisa, who became head of Pelimbang district, Bireun regency on May 21,
2010, said the ulema and councilors had initially opposed her promotion
arguing that it was against Islamic law.
"[Opposition] has declined. Many public figures have come to me and
apologized for their previous resistance," she told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.
Considered a capable and good leader, Anisa was promoted to head of
Pelimbang district by Bireun Regent Nurdin AR. Anisa was previously head of
village administration at the regency, a position that gave her a chance to
work with villagers.
"I covered 609 villages across different districts in Bireun. I never
encountered any problems at the village level while doing my job," she
said.
She added she was disappointed and frustrated by the opposition. "As a
woman I felt I was being treated unfairly. I saw it as an attempt to
restrict women in the community," she said.
Anisa said she had never been deterred by the opposition, which she said
was a result of misinterpreting Islamic law.
Luki, from the Indonesian Women’s Coalition of Aceh, blamed flawed
interpretations of Islamic law for the objections raised to female
leadership. "Rejecting women’s leadership in Aceh is an ignorant and
outdated form of Islamic sharia interpretation," she said.
According to Luki, there are many examples of the application of Islamic
law with no input from women. Women, she said, were often the victims of
misinterpretation in the application of allegedly Islamic-based
regulations.
"It’s a setback in the application of laws. It’s like we’re going back to
the stone age, a premodern Islamic age, in which women were not allowed to
lead," Luki said.
Luki said that there were many religious teachings that needed to be
adjusted for the current era. "Banning a woman from becoming a leader is
not practical because election law clearly allows for women’s involvement
in politics," she said.
Nurdin said that opposition to female leadership would not stop him from
having female district heads in his regency. "[The rejection] is the work
of a few people who interpret Islamic law incorrectly," he said.
* Jakarta Post - October 12, 2010.
Women still targets of discriminatory bylaws, Women rights group says
Dessy Sagita, Jakarta — The National Commission on Violence Against Women
(Komnas Perempuan) said on Wednesday there were still plenty of bylaws
discriminating against women, despite the state’s promise to eradicate such
policies.
"After he was re-elected, [President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono] said
eradicating discriminatory bylaws would be a priority,“said Andy Yentriyani, a commissioner at the agency.”But instead of decreasing, the
number of these kinds of bylaws is getting bigger," she said.
Last year, Komnas Perempuan criticized the state for its failure to repeal
154 bylaws nationwide that were considered discriminatory — 64 of which
hampered women’s rights to free expression and gainful employment.Since 1999, the group has found 200 bylaws that it said suppressed women’s
rights. Since last year, various state institutions have either proposed or
passed a total of 62 new policies that can violate women’s rights, Andy
said.
As an example, she cited a West Aceh policy that prohibits Muslim women
from wearing certain types of clothing. "The mayor of West Aceh used the
regional budget to buy skirts for women because, apparently, wearing jeans
was not allowed,“Andy said.”This is ridiculous."
The commissioner also criticized a provincial lawmaker’s proposal to have
teenaged girls undergo virginity tests before they enter state schools.
Such discriminatory policies, she says, are often used by politicians who
want to appear morally righteous in order to gain public support or
sympathy.
She said some bylaws were issued out of “moral panic.” Some lawmakers, she
says, craft laws out of fear that their families or children will be
exposed to immoral acts. "It’s sad that some bylaws were products of the
naivete of the politicians or the lawmakers," Andy said.
Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, however, denied that discriminatory
bylaws existed in Indonesia. Despite regional autonomy, he said, the
central government still had the authority to filter laws for questionable
content.
"If we find anything discriminative in the bylaw draft, of course we can
annul it,“he said.”The real question is which bylaw is considered
discriminative? By whom? We have to understand clearly whether the bylaw
was issued to restrict women or even to protect them, and the issue is
still debatable," he said on Wednesday.
Gamawan says provinces like Aceh and Papua have been granted special
autonomy. He says provinces are generally allowed to issue any bylaw that
reflects local norms or traditions, as long as it does not run counter to
the public interest.
"Nyepi (Day of Silence) in Bali is not considered discriminatory, right? So
the regulation for women to wear skirts in West Aceh must also be
respected," he said.
* Jakarta Globe - October 7, 2010.
Quota for Women in Senior Party Positions Falls Short
Armando Siahaan, Jakarta — The legal requirement that a third of a
political party’s executive board be comprised of female officials was
being blatantly ignored, a civil society group said on Tuesday.
Yuda Irlang, from the Civil Society Alliance for Political Law Revision
(Ansipol), said that according to the group’s research, not one party had
complied with the 2008 Law on Politics that stipulates 30 percent of all
parties’ central executive boards must be made up of women.
Ansipol is, however, still waiting for some parties, such as the United
Development Party (PPP), to hold their national congress and appoint board
members before finalizing its study.
According to Yuda, while the number of women in political parties has
increased steadily in recent years, their numbers have consistently failed
to reach the 30 percent threshold. "We must push political parties to
fulfill the mandate of the law," she said.
To address the shortfall, Yuda said Ansipol recommended additional
regulations to force parties to incorporate the quota in their internal
policies.
The PPP reportedly already has internal regulations that require seven of
its 21 board members to be women.
Similarly, Rieke Dyah Pitaloka, a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said her party also had regulations regarding
the quota. “But the implementation of such regulations is difficult,” she
said.
But Yuda said that even if women were included on party executive boards,
most were given relatively low-ranking positions and had little say in
policy-making decisions.
She said that based on Ansipol’s study, most parties said it was difficult
to find women qualified enough to hold such strategic positions.
Lily Wahid, herself a prominent lawmaker from the National Awakening Party
(PKB), conceded that while she believed parties that failed to meet the
quota should be disqualified from elections, there was a dearth of capable
female politicians.
"Looking at the political realities, there are only a handful of female
politicians who can compete with male politicians," she said.
Lily said that having underqualified women in senior executive positions
could even prove detrimental for parties. "Having a quota does not
necessarily guarantee the quality of the female politicians being given the
position," she said.
Rieke said the parties themselves should ultimately be responsible for
cultivating more qualified female politicians. "The party should be the
’political school’ for all of its cadres, including women," she said.
* Jakarta Globe - September 7, 2010.