Comfort women fight for rights at home, abroad

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)