Activists to boycott parties not honoring quota ruling

Activists to boycott parties not honoring quota ruling

Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A women's rights group vowed on Friday to campaign for the
boycott of political parties that refused to implement the 30
percent quota for women legislative candidates in the upcoming
general election.

The newly endorsed election bill urged political parties to
allocate up to 30 percent of their legislative candidates for
women, as part of an affirmative action effort aimed at boosting
women's political role in the country.

Titi Soentoro, chairman of the Women's Solidarity for Human
Rights, said during a public debate here that her organization
would expose any parties that did not field truly qualified
candidates and instead manipulated the public by fulfilling the
quota just to lure voters.

"Each party must implement the ruling accordingly, otherwise
we will publicly expose their manipulation of the law," she said.

Under the newly endorsed Election Law No. 65/2003, political
parties are urged to include the 30 percent women legislative
candidates in their total number of candidates.

The bill, however, fell short of expectations as it did not
obligate parties to give 30 percent of their legislative
candidates to women. According to the bill, which is yet to be
signed into law by President Megawati Soekarnoputri, political
parties "may" provide 30 percent of total legislative candidates
to women. It also does not stipulate any sanctions for those
parties that do not abide by the ruling.

Although the wording of the bill, "may", is viewed to be
tricky and easily misinterpreted, several women's rights groups
have warmly welcomed the ruling, saying that it put forth
affirmative action for gender equality.

"The quota goes beyond technicality of quantity. However, the
ruling represents the spirit of gender equality, which remains
undiscussed in our society," said Titi.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri recently criticized the 30
percent quota for women legislative candidates, saying that the
bill created the false impression that women could become
successful only through charity.

Christina Rantetana, a legislator from the Military/Police
faction who also attended the debate, urged the women's rights
organization to be more transparent in the boycott.

"I call on the organization to come up with a list of names
for women legislative candidates to be given to political
parties," she said.

She also stressed that currently, the task to find qualified
women legislative candidates would be difficult to carry out.

However, Titi explained that there were enough women who
qualified for positions as legislators.

"It is not the lack of qualified female candidates, but rather
the lack of political commitment from political parties," she
remarked.

Marwah Daud Ibrahim, a legislator from the Golkar faction,
claimed that her party had already implemented the program to
accommodate the 30 percent quota for women legislative candidates
in the next general election.