Comfort women fight for rights at home, abroad

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The case of former Indonesian jugun ianfu was revealed during the visit of five Japanese lawyers from the Nichibenden (the federation of Japanese lawyers) to Indonesia in April 1993. On that April 20, the media covered Akira Murayama and four of his colleagues from Nichibenden's human rights commission as well as Indonesian Minister of Social Affairs Inten Suweno, who said: "The Indonesian women who fell victim to the Japanese troops need to be found."

The statement encouraged former jugun ianfu and romusha (forced labor) workers to come in great numbers to LBH's branch in Yogyakarta. In six months' time, 16,874 were registered. They asked for LBH's help to fight the Japanese government for their rights. According to Budi Hartono, an LBH lawyer in Yogyakarta, the initial registration showed 307 former jugun ianfu. The remainder consisted of romusha workers. After selection of the jugun ianfu, some 200 remained. As for the whole Asia-Pacific region, the total number of former jugun ianfu is believed to be nearly 200,000.

The data were collected and submitted to Akira Murayama and his colleagues, as a first step toward determining policies at the annual symposium of Nichibenden in October 1993. Budi Hartono said that the fact-finding mission was to disclose the cruelties of the Japanese troops in World War II, and that, "the most important thing was to obtain acknowledgement from the Japanese government."

The former jugun ianfu hope that the Japanese government will apologize to them both directly and indirectly. "A compensation would be welcome too," he said.

He rejected the opinion that the request for compensation was no different from prostitution. His argument was that the existence of jugun ianfu and romusha at the time was due to coercion. They were forced into serving sexual desires to an excessive extent, which resulted in mental and physical afflictions. Some died. "This was a violation of their human rights," Budi said emphatically.

Mardiyem, considered the most healthy, represents her friends and is moving onwards in her quest for justice. She has been invited several times to Japan to testify. She was accompanied by Budi when an anniversary celebration was held for jugun ianfu. Other invitees came form Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines. The visits abroad are not pleasure trips for Mardiyem.

The visits are often full of dejection as she is invariably asked to recount her stories of suffering. Often, when returning from a trip abroad, Mardiyem becomes ill for several weeks.

According to Budi, Mardiyem's long struggle together with LBH Yogyakarta has not been met with a positive response from the Indonesian government. Nevertheless, LBH never tires and continues to send letters requesting diplomatic help and attention from certain sides, even from the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations and President Soeharto.

He said: "Our endeavor is none other than a desire to safeguard the dignity of our nation and of the former comfort women themselves."

The struggles by LBH and Mardiyem also extend to Japan. In their meeting in Japan in July 1996, former jugun ianfu from various countries met in the Nichibenden office. They were closely assisted by the entire board of the Asia Pacific Forum, non-government organizations and Japanese students. They organized free fora and street demonstrations, shouting: "The Japanese government shall obey the United Nations decision of April 1996. The Japanese government shall apologize and give compensation to all former jugun ianfu". The action finally received a positive response from the speaker of the Japanese parliament.

After the trip, the Indonesian jugun ianfu stuck to their initial demand that the Japanese government acknowledge its error, offer an apology, give compensation to all registered jugun ianfu, include the true story on sex slavery in Indonesia in their country's history school books and erect a monument to commemorate the atrocities committed during World War II.

The Indonesian government's decision to channel the compensation of Rp 9 billion to homes of the elderly has more than disappointed LBH and Mardiyem.

"I was astonished. When we had difficulty arranging things, the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs kept silent. We never received any positive response from the Indonesian government. But now that there is some light, suddenly the minister of social affairs makes this decision. It doesn't make any sense, does it?" asked an irritated Budi.

According to Budi, the decision by social affairs minister Inten Suweno does not stand to reason because, he said, the compensation should directly benefit each of the former jugun ianfu who were direct victims of the atrocities perpetrated by the Japanese troops. Moreover, the compensation funds do not originate from the Japanese government but from contributions to the Asian Women's Fund, a non-governmental institute especially established to free the Japanese government from direct responsibility for former jugun ianfu.

Indonesia's former jugun ianfu have since sent a letter to LBH Yogyakarta to sue the minister of social affairs and the Japanese ambassador to Indonesia if the compensation funds do not personally reach the women. The struggle of the former jugun ianfu has a long way to go. (Lucia Idayanie/R.Fadjri)