'Mardiyem' highlights nightmare of the comfort women<\/p>\n
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Being raped is every woman's nightmare. To experience it once
\nis more than enough to turn a woman's life upside down. But there
\nare women who had to undergo such assaults 10, 15 or even more
\nthan 30 times a day.<\/p>\n
Who were those unfortunate women? And what kind of monsters
\ncould treat them so heartlessly?<\/p>\n
They were the some 200,000 women who were forced to become sex
\nslaves, or, euphemistic-speaking, comfort women for the Japanese
\nImperial Army during the Japanese occupation of this country
\nduring World War II.<\/p>\n
One of them is Mardiyem. A native of Yogyakarta, she went to
\nBanjarmasin, South Kalimantan, in 1942. She went to the city in
\nwhat was then known as Borneo Island to follow her neighbor and
\nbecome a singer in a bid to save herself from being drafted as a
\nservant in the Yogyakarta kraton (palace).<\/p>\n
But instead, she was taken by the Japanese army and was kept
\nat a place called a "comfort station". On the first day of her
\narrival, she was raped repeatedly. From noon until 3 p.m., six
\nmen forced her to satisfy their sexual urges. Some raped her more
\nthan once, so that she was raped a total of 11 times during the
\ncourse of that three hours.<\/p>\n
Mardiyem was only 13 at the time, a virgin of course, and had
\nnot even had her first period.<\/p>\n
Fifty-nine years later, Mardiyem, now 74 years old, shares her
\ntragic story during those three years of hell in this documentary
\nfilm that bears her name.<\/p>\n
The film is directed by Tomoko Kana, a 29-year-old Japanese
\ndocumentary film director who had been obsessed with the idea of
\nmaking a movie about comfort women, or jugun ianfu as they are
\nknown in Japanese, ever since she first learnt of their suffering
\nat junior high school. Kana is scheduled to attend the film's
\nscreening on Tuesday as part of the Jakarta International Film
\nFestival.<\/p>\n
Mardiyem is Kana's first long film, and was shot between
\nSeptember and December of last year. Kana followed Mardiyem
\naround, from her house in Yogyakarta to Banjarmasin, to retrace
\nthe nightmare.<\/p>\n
She also followed Mardiyem to Tokyo, when the latter, along
\nwith three other comfort women -- Suhanah, Ema and Suharty --
\ntestified at the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal.<\/p>\n
In editing the film, Kana did not try to be overly dramatic.
\nShe does not have to, as the testimony of the women is already
\nfrightening enough without adding unnecessary effects. It's
\nenough to make us, especially women, feel queazy.<\/p>\n
It's really tragic when Mardiyem tells us how, when she found
\nout that she was five-months pregnant, she had to undergo an
\nabortion without anesthetic. Or how Ema shows us the scars on her
\nstomach where her uterus was removed because it was badly damaged
\ndue to the repeated rapes. Or how most of the women now live in
\npoverty and many of them remained unmarried as they felt ashamed,
\nand because they couldn't have children.<\/p>\n
The strength of this documentary lies in its quiet but moving
\nmoments. The scenes where Mardiyem is seen chain-smoking because
\nit is the only way she can calm herself and forget the horrible
\nmemories. How she could not sleep after testifying to the
\ntribunal. How she cried when visiting the house of her best
\nfriend and fellow comfort woman, Sukarlin, who had just passed
\naway.<\/p>\n
Mardiyem still has the spirit, though, to fight for an apology
\nand compensation from the Japanese government.<\/p>\n
"We've been fighting everywhere, but our government never
\nhelped us. It's not merely the money that we're after, but an
\napology and recognition from people that we were not prostitutes,
\nbut were forced to become sex slaves," she asserted.<\/p>\n
Mardiyem; Documentary, 92 minutes; Screening today at 2.30 p.m.
\nat the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ) School of Film and Television
\n(FFTV); For more information call (021) 325113, 325115.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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