Domestic violence that ends in murder in Blitar, Lebong, and Asahan\n(February 2026) mirrors a rising pattern of domestic violence in\nIndonesia\u2014from 4,178 reported cases in 2024 to 4,472 in 2025\u2014with\nintimate femicide (femicide of female partners) rising by 43% according\nto Komnas Perempuan.<\/p>\n
The three cases reveal patriarchal rural power structures embedded in\npoverty that aggravate control over wives to fatal ends, in line with\nthe family criminology perspective that DV often extends from partners\nto children, as recently seen in Sukabumi.<\/p>\n
These patterns confirm that DV is not merely an interpersonal\nconflict but a family cycle requiring systemic intervention.<\/p>\n
Three Fatal DV Cases<\/p>\n
Blitar, East Java: Sri Nesyati, a housewife known to neighbours as\nfriendly, died with bruising all over her body, including injuries to\nthe head and neck from strangulation and brutal blows. Her pale body,\nalready dead, was carried by her husband, the perpetrator, to a\npuskesmas, indicating death had occurred hours earlier.<\/p>\n
Lebong, Bengkulu: Aulia, a newlywed bride who was four months\npregnant, was killed by OY, the husband who had been married to her for\nonly four months. After being strangled and beaten until unconscious,\nshe was attacked with a sharp weapon; her parents lost their prospective\ngrandchild and their beloved daughter in one tragedy.<\/p>\n
Asahan, North Sumatra: Autopsy of Ananda Isnaini Putri revealed the\ncause of death as asphyxia due to water being poured into her mouth and\nnose after a brutal beating, causing fatal difficulty in breathing.<\/p>\n
The husband, who should be a protector, supporter, and partner,\ninstead becomes the final executioner in these three cases\u2014a deep\nbetrayal of the foundational role in marriage, as analysed by Dobash\n& Dobash in Violence Against Wives (1979): Rather than channeling\neconomic or emotional frustration through dialogue or external help,\nthey choose violence as a \u2018correction\u2019 for alleged breaches of household\nauthority.<\/p>\n
Ironically, this role contradiction mirrors a national pattern\nrecorded by Komnas Perempuan, where DV is no longer sporadic but a\nrising trend. Data from Komnas Perempuan show that in one year, reports\nof violence against women rose from 4,178 in 2024 to 4,472 in 2025, an\nincrease of about 7%, as stated at a hearing of the DPR Commission VIII\non 15 January 2026.<\/p>\n
If these figures highlight formal reporting, a more alarming picture\nappears in intimate femicide (DV ending in murder): at least 7 cases in\n2024 rose to at least 10 in 2025, a 43% increase. The actual number is\nhigher due to underreporting and many local cases that do not reach\nnational attention.<\/p>\n
Motivation of DV Perpetrators<\/p>\n
Using a criminological lens, strain theory (Merton, 1939) shows that\nperpetrators often commit violence against partners due to economic or\nemotional pressure, such as anger from minor arguments that fail to be\nresolved adaptively, causing daily conflicts to erupt into extreme\nviolence.<\/p>\n
Conversely, a strong patriarchal culture\u2014with the norm \u2018husband as\nhead of the family\u2019\u2014institutionalises female subordination, particularly\nin rural areas, making wives objects of total control in economic,\nsexual, and emotional spheres. When women are seen as \u2018violating\u2019 or\nchallenging male authority, this is read as a threat to the husband\u2019s\nposition, increasing the risk of escalation to physical violence ending\nin death.<\/p>\n
The pattern becomes clearer within the Walker cycle framework: DV\ndoes not appear once and stop, but runs through three interlocking\nphases. First, tension-building; second, acute violence\u2014physical,\nverbal, emotional, or sexual\u2014as a way to \u2018release\u2019 pressure while\nasserting control; third, the honeymoon phase, when the perpetrator\napologises, promises to reform, offers romantic attention, or blames the\nvictim, making it difficult for the wife to leave, forgive, and return,\nso the cycle repeats.<\/p>\n
This concept refers to the cycle of violence model by Lenore E.\nWalker in The Battered Woman (1979), which remains widely used to\nunderstand repeating violence in intimate relationships.<\/p>\n
Exploring the rural socio-economic context of these areas, the cases\nin Blitar, Lebong, and Asahan appear to reflect a repeated pattern in\nstructurally poor regions. Deep-seated poverty, dependence on unstable\nagricultural land, and low per-capita incomes\u2014usually below IDR 2.5\nmillion per month\u2014create latent economic pressures inside\nhouseholds.<\/p>\n
Within rural patriarchal norms, husbands are expected to be the main\nbreadwinners; when they fail to meet this expectation, shame,\npowerlessness, and frustration accumulate. Minor conflicts\u2014such as not\nmaking coffee, being teased for poverty, or small domestic frictions\u2014can\nexplode into extreme emotions and result in physical violence.<\/p>\n
On a broader level, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in a\n2022 report shows that the risk of DV rises by about 35% in\nlower-middle-income rural households. The cases in Blitar, Lebong, and\nAsahan reflect the same pattern: poverty worsens conditions on one hand,\nwhile rural patriarchy reinforces the husband as the \u2018moral and economic\nauthority\u2019 at home.<\/p>\n
When these two factors converge, the risk of domestic violence\nincreases.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/breaking-the-cycle-of-femicide-1772874333", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }