Comfort women demand government attention

Comfort women demand government attention

JAKARTA (JP): A group of elderly women forced by Japanese
soldiers to be comfort women in the period between 1942 and 1945
reiterated their demand on Thursday that the government pay
attention to their fate.

"I was raped by three Japanese soldiers when I was 15. My
father and brother were sent away to work as romusha (forced
laborers) for protecting me and my mother," said 74-year-old
Suratmi.

Suratmi, who hails from Magelang, Central Java, said, "Nobody
helped me then. Nobody is helping me now. What can this country
do to help sooth the suffering of its people?"

Many women and men were forced to work for the Japanese
military as jugun ianfu or comfort women, sex slaves and forced
laborers during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia from 1942 to
1945.

Dozens of them, including children of the victims, visited the
House of Representatives to ask lawmakers to pay more attention
to their fate.

The women and men grouped under the Communication Forum for
Sexual Abuse/Rape Victims of Dai Nippon Soldiers were originally
scheduled to meet Hamid Baidowi, one of the members of the House
of Representatives, to submit data on the wartime victims, but
failed to meet her in person.

In short, they demanded compensation and apologies from the
Japanese government, whether in person or in an official
statement.

Yusuf Mudanto of Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute, who
accompanied the group, told reporters that they had also demanded
that the legislators organize a meeting with former minister of
social affairs Inten Suweno, who once promised assistance.

The Indonesian government had received Rp 9 billion in
compensation intended for 1,156 former comfort women throughout
the country from the Japanese government in 1996.

However, the victims never received the money channeled to the
Japan-sanctioned Asian Women Fund (AWF). Some Rp 775 million of
the amount had reportedly been used to rehabilitate five homes
for the elderly.

"We want Inten to clarify why the victims were not able to
receive compensation," Yusuf said. (bby)