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)