A new ministry of male affairs?

A new ministry of male affairs?

If you are a regular reader of The Jakarta Post, then you will
find an article on page 4 of the Nov. 8 edition with the heading
Women to take action against DPR.

I am not a politician nor a lawyer, so what is written here,
is more an expression of surprise than a protest or anything
else. I've always been under the impression, that the women
throughout history who fought for equality was in the past, which
means they now have the same rights as men and are treated
likewise.

I honestly feel that from the legal point of view, this has
been achieved, and women have the same rights and consequently
the same duties as men. There is no difference any more. Women
are accepted in the military services and the Police. Women are
honorable members of political parties and can serve in any job
as long as they fill the technical requirements. Women even can
become a president, a minister and what not.

But in spite of all that, some women still demand special
political treatment, which, in my mind, would taint the
democratic political process and not be fair. They are demanding
an increase in women's representation to 30 percent.

This clearly is a show of an inferiority complex, which is
illogical after their fierce and successful fight for equality.
If we look at paragraph 27 of our Constitution, we can clearly
read about the equal position and rights of all citizens before
the law and government, and have the obligation to uphold the law
without exception. This, I think, has been achieved and now the
women, after having achieved equality, want preferential
treatment and want more seats especially in policy-making
institutions such as the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

The lady politicians know of course that a decree from MPR
cannot go against the Constitution, because the Constitution is
the highest law. These policy-making bodies are not created for
gender representation. Rather, the political ideology and
political trends in the nation. They should fight based on
ideologies and not on sex. The existence of the office of the
state ministry for women's empowerment is contradictory to the
principle of equality, because there is no ministry of masculine
affairs.

And why should these women take legal action against the
ministry of home affairs and the House of Representatives (DPR)?
It is useless, if we look at it from a judicial point of view.

SOEGIH ARTO, Jakarta