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.