East Java tops in number of rape cases

Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

East Java ranked first in Indonesia in the number of rape cases with at least 249 cases taking place last year alone, after Jakarta that saw at least 227 cases, according to women activists.

Titiana Adinda, a senior activist from the National Commission for Women (Komnas Perempuan), said Central Java ranked third with 147 rapes, followed by West Java with 69 and Yogyakarta with 25.

Speaking on the sidelines of a Women's Fair in Surabaya on Monday as part of activities to celebrate Kartini Day, she said other forms of violence against women also increased to 356 cases in East Java last year, including 11 cases of sexual harassment and 86 others against wives and maids.

From January to March this year alone, the Pro-Democracy Women's Group (KPPD) said it recorded at least 34 new cases of violence against women, including rape (12), attacks on wives (13) and on maids (four), and sexual harassment (four).

"The figures are based on data obtained from the result of our advocacy measures for the victims," KPPD coordinator Soka Hadinah Katjasungkana said, adding that some of the cases were being processed in courts.

She said the rising cases of sexual violence against women showed that women had not received adequate protection from legal authorities.

Adinda, who chairs the Komnas Perempuan's Recovery System Development Division, and Soka could not explain why sexual assault had soared in East Java.

However, she said East Java was one of the country's most densely populated provinces, with a highly mobile population of around 36 million people.

Experts have blamed the increase in rape and other forms of sexual violence against women on the rising consumption of drugs and the spread of pornographic VCDs among local males.

Others have accused women of stimulating sexual passion in men through their "inappropriate" dress.

Adinda also expressed concern over the fact that violent cases against women continued to rise every year in Indonesia.

She said her organization had recorded at least 1,032 cases of rape, 1,253 cases of violence against wives, 543 cases of torture, 228 cases of sexual harassment and 112 cases of murder, which took place throughout the country last year.