Fighting violence against women

Fighting violence against women

By Julia I. Suryakusuma

Today is UN Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

JAKARTA (JP): On Nov. 25, 1989, 14 women, mostly engineering
students from a technical university in Montreal, were gunned
down by a male student, because "you're all a bunch of feminists,
and I hate feminists!".

The worst single-day massacre in Canadian history threw into
sharp relief the extent to which the act reflected a society
where women suffer violence at the hands of men. The "Montreal
Massacre", as it was later known, was declared by the United
Nations as a day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

However, violence against women (VAW) has been in existence
throughout the history of humankind. VAW is a universal
phenomenon. It is not only endemic, but also pervasive and occurs
throughout the whole life span of women.

Article 1 of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence
Against Women states: "Violence against women means any act of
gender-based violence that results in or is likely to result in
physical or psychological harm or suffering to women, including
threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of
liberty whether occurring in public or in private life."

Both men and women are subject to structural violence which
results from racism, sexism, class discrimination, war, inter-
nation domination and various types of discrimination. However,
there is a difference in the form and quality of violence
experienced by men and women. Both men and women are subject to
the violence of war, crime and other acts.

However, there are types of violence that are particular to
women by virtue of their gender; sexual harassment and violence,
including rape, domestic violence, psychological violence and
other acts of violence, as mentioned in Article 2 of this
declaration.

Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN special rapporteur on violence
against women, is working on the Fourth Report which is on state
violence, i.e. VAW that is caused or condoned by the government,
and in some cases perpetrated by the military apparatus. There is
indeed good reason to focus on state violence as, directly and
indirectly, the state is responsible for virtually all kinds of
VAW.

State VAW is defined not only as direct acts of violence by
the state-cum-military apparatus, but also violence condoned by
the state as well as violence that women have to suffer due to
neglect or oversight. The state is also responsible for domestic
violence (against wives, daughters, female servants), violence
against female migrant workers and VAW in the workplace.

Domestic violence is one of the most pervasive types of VAW.
Together with other social institutions, the state maintains the
"privacy" of the "household" as sacrosanct by doing so it closes
the household from outside intervention in cases of, say, wife-
battering. By not providing adequate legislation and protection
for women, and by helping to perpetuate sexism in government
policies, the state is indirectly responsible for the victims of
VAW in these sectors.

However, as we can clearly see in Indonesia, the state is
directly responsible for VAW which is part and parcel of the
systematic and structural violence of state against society.
Historically, the Indonesian New Order regime was not only
founded on but maintained by violence. From the recent killings
on Nov. 12 and Nov. 13 known as the Semanggi incident, it is
apparent that violence continues to be the ultimate method of the
Habibie regime to control the people.

The incidence of VAW in Indonesia, which climaxed in May this
year with the rapes of Indonesian women of predominantly Chinese
descent, prompted Dr. Coomaraswamy to visit the country between
Nov. 20 to Nov. 30. Jose Luiz Dias, spokesman for UN Human Rights
High Commissioner Mary Robinson, stated that the purpose of her
trip was to investigate these rapes, as well as to visit
violence-stricken provinces of East Timor and Irian Jaya.

Since these two provinces as well as Aceh were designated as
military operation areas (known by the Indonesian acronym DOM),
various acts of violence have been committed. Plundering,
abduction, torture, arson, killings and rape. There seems to be a
pattern to the acts of violence against women perpetrated by the
state apparatus, not only in DOM areas, but also throughout the
country.

The torture "procedure" involves a combination of the
following: electrocution of the sex organs (nipples or vagina) or
bayoneting of the breasts, rape either by penis or the insertion
of some sharp object into the vagina, then murder by torture,
beatings, stabbing or shooting. Women are also often used as
hostages, or forced to sexually service the soldiers. Military
VAW is part of military violence against the people in all these
military occupied areas of Indonesia.

The nature of state violence is also manifested through
military interference in labor disputes. This is probably best
illustrated by what became the most publicized human rights case
in Indonesia in years, the murder of Marsinah, a 25-year-old
labor organizer from East Java town of Porong, who questioned the
dismissal of her colleagues. Despite the fact that the use of the
military to break up strikes was common, murder had never before
been on the agenda. On May 1993, Marsinah was found dead after
being brutally tortured.

It is widely known that in the New Order, women are a
commodity and their bodies the site of endless abuse. In some
parts of Indonesia, due to a "target scheme" of the national
family planning program, women have been threatened and coerced
to use certain forms of contraception by security personnel. The
lack of protection given by the government to female migrant
workers, who are merely seen as a source of revenue, leaves them
open to various forms of abuse and exploitation by various
parties, including the state apparatus.

The political implications of VAW in Indonesia cannot be
underestimated. Violence in general is a means of control. State
violence is a means to control civil society. Politically, this
means the obstruction of the development of democracy, a primary
goal of the current reform movement. The political nature of the
Semanggi incident is apparent. Therefore, it is not surprising
that the authorities are already quibbling over the possibility
of an investigation.

Likewise, the systematic obstruction of the investigation of
the May rapes was clearly linked to the preservation and
legitimacy of state power.

In fact, the May rapes reveal even more aspects of the ills of
the New Order regime. They brought to the fore:

* the issue of VAW in Indonesia which had formerly been rendered
"invisible";

* the issue of militarism and its use by the state to control
society and, at the same time, the state's inability to protect
the people;

* demands for the police to be separated from the military and
indeed for the end of the military "dual-function";

* the issue of the structural distortion of the Indonesian
economy which has given unfair privileges to certain elite
groups, and the fact that it is a system that is inherently
unequitable, perpetuating and increasing the gap between the rich
and the poor;

* the racist and centralistic nature of Indonesian development;

* a long, unexpressed need for political expression and freedom
of speech, manifested by the scores of demonstrations we are now
witness to, voicing long, unvoiced protests and discontent;

* the demand that human rights be observed;

* the illegitimate nature of the New Order government and the
corruptness of the regime.

Besides being a violation of women's human rights, VAW is a
manifestation of state violence against the people in general and
a symptom of the state's use of fear to maintain the status quo.

Thus, the increase in the incidence of VAW in Indonesia
reflects the increased use of state violence to hinder the
democratization process. Are the deaths of the 15 people in the
Semanggi incident only the beginning?

The writer is a social commentator and woman activist.

Window A: Both men and women are subject to structural violence
which results from racism, sexism, class discrimination, war,
inter-nation domination and various types of discrimination.
However, there is a difference in the form and quality of
violence experienced by men and women.

Window B: The political implications of VAW in Indonesia cannot
be underestimated. Violence in general is a means of control.
State violence is a means to control civil society. Politically,
this means the obstruction of the development of democracy, a
primary goal of the current reform movement.