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.