Experts say regulations leave women unprotected<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Legal experts have bemoaned the lack of gender awareness in the
\nmaking of city regulations which have resulted in the abuse of
\nwomen's rights as reflected in the alleged rape of a woman nabbed
\nin last week's raid on sex workers.<\/p>\n
Legal anthropologist of University of Indonesia, Sulistyowati
\nIrianto, pointed out that Jakarta Bylaw No. 11\/1988 on city order
\nwhich allows raids on suspected sex workers, including women
\nstanding on the street after midnight, as a glaring example.<\/p>\n
The lawmakers ignore the fact that a woman might have to go
\nout at midnight to work, to buy medicine for her sick children as
\nan example.<\/p>\n
\"The lawmakers have the attitude that women standing on the
\nstreet are bad women,\" Sulistyowati told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Such conditions, she said, were reason enough for the country
\nto impose the 30 percent quota for woman candidates in the
\nlegislature as the first step to improve legislation, which is
\nmostly dominated by male perspectives.<\/p>\n
Her remarks was made in connection with Saturday's incident
\nwhen a 20-year-old woman, a resident of Bogor, was raped in two
\nattacks at the Central Jakarta Municipality Office on Jl. Tanah
\nAbang I, Central Jakarta, by two police assistants on duty.<\/p>\n
The victim was walking home from work at a cafe in Sabang area
\nnearby when four members of Banpol (civilian police assistants)
\narrested the woman and took her to the mayoralty office. One of
\nthem, Ali, raped her in a storeroom.<\/p>\n
She was later dropped at Monas park, and again brought back to
\nthe mayoralty office by another police assistant, Wira, who later
\nraped her on the office's staircase. She was later given Rp
\n10,000 (US$1.1) and ordered to go home.<\/p>\n
The police have arrested the two and they were now under
\ninvestigation. The chief of Central Jakarta operations control,
\nReski, said they would be dismissed in accordance with a
\ndirective of Mayor Hosea Petra Lumbun.<\/p>\n
Separately, legal expert Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, who is a
\nwomen's rights activist, said that police, father or teacher as
\nguardian of women is a myth, because in most cases they are the
\nones who violate women's rights.<\/p>\n
\"Especially with the security officers, as they adopted the
\ncommon notion that one is allowed to do bad things to 'bad women'
\nwho breach social norms by not being home at night.\"<\/p>\n
While there is no law that imposes heavier sentences on public
\nservants or security officers who commit criminal acts,
\nNursyahbani suggested that the court judges consider the
\ndefendants' position as an aggravating factor and therefore
\nimpose a heavier sentence.<\/p>",
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