Activists accuse women of allowing domestic violence to happen
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.