Activists accuse women of allowing domestic violence to happen

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Local culture, legal procedures, and a lack of knowledge about legal protection have made victims of domestic violence reluctant to report the cases to the police or bring the perpetrators to court, a police officer and women activists say.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Herti Sudinar of the National Police Headquarters general crimes division said on Friday that many women dropped their lawsuits against the perpetrators of domestic violence because they were afraid of losing the breadwinner of the family or creating a bad image of the family.

"I have on several occasions had to release husbands who physically abused their wives, stepfathers and uncles who raped their stepdaughters or nieces just because the victims' relatives said that the legal process would tarnish the family's image and cause economic hardship," Herti said.

She was speaking at the presentation of a report on domestic violence cases in Greater Jakarta documented by the Foundation for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (Mitra Perempuan).

Domestic violence takes the form of physical and psychological abuse, and sexual harassment against any member of the family including husbands, wives, children, and domestic helpers.

Rita Serena Kolibonso, executive director of Mitra Perempuan, said that from 226 domestic violence cases that the organization had handled, some 85.32 percent of the perpetrators were husbands or ex-husbands.

She said only 11.5 percent of the cases went through some form of legal processes although 58.41 percent of the victims had experienced several incidents of abuse.

Rita added that 58 victims were women between 26 years and 30 years of age while 53 perpetrators were men aged between 36 and 40. Seventy-five victims were senior high school graduates and 73 perpetrators of abuse were university graduates.

"We used to think that domestic violence only occurred in low- income households and among people who were less educated. The report proves that domestic violence happens in all classes of society," she said.

Herti said that police rarely received reports of men, children, or domestic helpers as victims of domestic violence. She said that there was only on case of a man who had reported that a woman had sexually abused him.

"The public considers domestic violence a private domain in which people outside the household are not allowed to meddle. Certain people also consider violence necessary to teach a victim to change his or her behavior," she said.

She added that it was also difficult for police to bring cases of domestic sexual abuse to the court because it requires a witness and a medical report.

"Many victims cannot afford to pay for the medical report and they are also scared to testify," Rita said.

Purnianti, a criminologist from the faculty of social and political science at the University of Indonesia, said that the public needed to move quickly against domestic violence while waiting for the House of Representatives to pass the domestic violence bill into law next year since such violence had caused many injuries and deaths.

"Many victims receive serious injuries, are maimed, traumatized, suffer mental illness and are killed because of such violence. We should involve all people, including men as the main perpetrators, to address the problem through real actions," she said.

Mitra Perempuan, through its Women's Crisis Center, provides hotline services, legal and medical assistance to victims, and counseling for the perpetrators and victims. Several international donor agencies, embassies and individuals support the organization.

Herti said that Jakarta Police had provided special rooms for women and children victims of violence in its police stations in a bid to help victims get legal protection.

"Nine policewomen are in charge at the women's desk so that the victims can express their problems clearly and freely," she said.