A new ministry of masculine 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