Experts say regulations leave women unprotected

Experts say regulations leave women unprotected

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Legal experts have bemoaned the lack of gender awareness in the
making of city regulations which have resulted in the abuse of
women's rights as reflected in the alleged rape of a woman nabbed
in last week's raid on sex workers.

Legal anthropologist of University of Indonesia, Sulistyowati
Irianto, pointed out that Jakarta Bylaw No. 11/1988 on city order
which allows raids on suspected sex workers, including women
standing on the street after midnight, as a glaring example.

The lawmakers ignore the fact that a woman might have to go
out at midnight to work, to buy medicine for her sick children as
an example.

"The lawmakers have the attitude that women standing on the
street are bad women," Sulistyowati told The Jakarta Post.

Such conditions, she said, were reason enough for the country
to impose the 30 percent quota for woman candidates in the
legislature as the first step to improve legislation, which is
mostly dominated by male perspectives.

Her remarks was made in connection with Saturday's incident
when a 20-year-old woman, a resident of Bogor, was raped in two
attacks at the Central Jakarta Municipality Office on Jl. Tanah
Abang I, Central Jakarta, by two police assistants on duty.

The victim was walking home from work at a cafe in Sabang area
nearby when four members of Banpol (civilian police assistants)
arrested the woman and took her to the mayoralty office. One of
them, Ali, raped her in a storeroom.

She was later dropped at Monas park, and again brought back to
the mayoralty office by another police assistant, Wira, who later
raped her on the office's staircase. She was later given Rp
10,000 (US$1.1) and ordered to go home.

The police have arrested the two and they were now under
investigation. The chief of Central Jakarta operations control,
Reski, said they would be dismissed in accordance with a
directive of Mayor Hosea Petra Lumbun.

Separately, legal expert Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, who is a
women's rights activist, said that police, father or teacher as
guardian of women is a myth, because in most cases they are the
ones who violate women's rights.

"Especially with the security officers, as they adopted the
common notion that one is allowed to do bad things to 'bad women'
who breach social norms by not being home at night."

While there is no law that imposes heavier sentences on public
servants or security officers who commit criminal acts,
Nursyahbani suggested that the court judges consider the
defendants' position as an aggravating factor and therefore
impose a heavier sentence.