Dian fights for women's rights<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The young Dian Kartika Sari idolized her best friend's father.
\nGrowing up without a father of her own, she thought he was the
\nperfect man because he seemed to put his family ahead of
\neverything else in the world.<\/p>\n
But her image of the man was shattered unexpectedly, leaving
\nher heartbroken and eventually pushing her to become an activist
\nfighting to empower women.<\/p>\n
It happened in the 1980s, when Dian was preparing to take her
\nfinals and graduate from high school. She had to pawn her
\ntypewriter so she could pay for the finals, which her mother, who
\nran a small business and was also a social worker, could not
\nafford.<\/p>\n
A girl friend from school told Dian how lucky she was that she
\nhad something to pawn, because she had to \"pawn\" herself to a
\npoliceman to raise the money to pay her school fees.<\/p>\n
Dian was stunned when she found out that the man who \"bought\"
\nher friend was none other than the man she idolized as the ideal
\nfather and family man.<\/p>\n
\"I was so shocked that I didn't remember how I got home on my
\nbike,\" the 37-year-old told The Jakarta Post recently.<\/p>\n
That incident left Dian pondering a question that has since
\nbecome her obsession: Why are women bought, sold and treated as
\ncommodities?<\/p>\n
However, Dian, who is a volunteer with the Indonesian Red
\nCross in Yogyakarta, did not immediately take up the cause as an
\nactivist. In fact, she was not even interested when her mother,
\nan admirer of Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, cut out and gave her
\narticles written by the women's activist.<\/p>\n
After Dian graduated from Gadjah Mada University's School of
\nLaw in 1992, she went to work as an insurance agent. Her last job
\nwas as the personnel and legal manager for a private aviation
\ncompany in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The riots in May 1998 finally opened her eyes.<\/p>\n
\"I entered the House of Representatives with thousands of
\nuniversity students, and I felt something was missing from my
\nlife despite the fact that I was already financially secure,\"
\nsaid Dian, who was born in Madiun, East Java, but grew up in
\nYogyakarta.<\/p>\n
She became determined to fight for women's rights after
\nhearing about the systematic rapes that took place during the
\nriots, targeting Chinese-Indonesian women.<\/p>\n
When her mother died in September 1998, Dian, the eldest of
\nfive siblings, returned to Yogyakarta, where she spent time
\nobserving the lives of women in some of the more remote areas of
\nthe province.<\/p>\n
In October of that year, she went to Jakarta and while
\ntraveling on a city bus, she saw a sticker for the Women's
\nAssociation for Legal Aid (LBH APIK), and her instincts told her
\nto contact the number on the sticker.<\/p>\n
Dian, who describes herself as stubborn, joined the
\nassociation, which provides legal assistance for women and
\nchildren.<\/p>\n
She worked as a volunteer for LBH APIK for about eight months,
\nbefore leaving to join the newly established Indonesian Women's
\nCoalition for Justice and Democracy (KPI) as a member of the
\npublic policy advocacy and political education division.<\/p>\n
And, as it so happened, Nursyahbani was Dian's supervisor.<\/p>\n
Despite her activism, Dian refuses to be hung with the
\nfeminist tag, saying she doesn't want \"to become polarized by its
\nvarious categories\".<\/p>\n
Dian has traveled widely in the country to learn about the
\nexploitation of women and children.<\/p>\n
She has spent numerous nights in cheap bars with women and
\nchildren who have been victimized by human traffickers, trying to
\nunderstand their lives and their needs. At other times, Dian has
\ncampaigned for women's political rights in slum areas in the
\ncapital.<\/p>\n
Violations against women, Dian said, occur in different ways,
\nincluding domestic violence, trafficking in women and the unfair
\ntreatment of women in politics.<\/p>\n
Domestic violence is certainly not a new phenomenon.
\nUnfortunately, most of the victims here are left unprotected,
\noften because they are afraid to report the matter to the
\nauthorities. But, at a certain level, victims also lack
\nprotection because the government does nothing to help them and
\nthere are only a few non-governmental organizations that deal
\nwith domestic violence.<\/p>\n
\"The problem is that most of our representatives on the city
\ncouncils or in the House of Representatives are men.
\nUnfortunately, these policymakers, including the few women, are
\nnot sensitive about the issue,\" Dian said.<\/p>\n
She also criticized the government for its reluctance to
\nimpose a quota system for women in politics.<\/p>\n
Not only is the government unwilling to take action on the
\nquota system, some officials go so far as to accuse women who
\ndemand affirmative action of being troublemakers.<\/p>\n
Dian responds to all of it calmly. \"They forget that they were
\ngiven birth to by women, their mothers.\"<\/p>\n
She appreciates every step forward, no matter how seemingly
\nsmall.<\/p>\n
\"I was so happy when one of our 'disciples', who was a
\nhousewife in a poor fishing village in North Jakarta, was elected
\nas the head of a neighborhood unit,\" Dian, now the coordinator
\nfor public policy division, said.<\/p>\n
She said her proudest moment was when, as a member of a team
\ndrafting amendments to the Constitution in 2000, she was able to
\ninsert an article on human rights, women's rights and children's
\nrights.<\/p>\n
The constitutional amendments are still being deliberated.<\/p>\n
Dian's next project is to put together a book tracing the
\nhistory of the women's movement in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"I just want to find out whether we have made any progress
\ncompared to our predecessors such as S.K. Trimurti,\" she said,
\nreferring to the renowned journalist and former minister of
\nlabor.<\/p>\n
The women's activists of the past had a clear plan of action
\nand a consistency that produced significant results, she said.<\/p>\n
\"I wonder if we only raise issues but never make any real
\nachievements, as someone recently criticized me. That's why I
\nalways remind myself to focus on down-to-earth issues,\" Dian
\nsaid.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/dian-fights-for-womens-rights-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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