First Lady visits Yogyakarta market

First Lady visits Yogyakarta market

YOGYAKARTA (JP): As part of commemorations marking Kartini
Day, First Lady Shinta Nuriyah Abdurrahman Wahid made an
impromptu visit to Beringhardjo market in Yogyakarta on Friday to
hold friendly dialogs with women vendors and coolies.

Accompanied by Ratu Hemas, wife of Sultan Hamengkubuwono X,
who is Yogyakarta governor, Shinta was greeted by Mayor R.
Widagdo at the biggest traditional market in Yogyakarta.

The first lady very quickly became the focus of attention of
all who were at the market place.

Women coolies are paid to carrying goods belonging to traders
or market patrons.

In very intimate conversations with the "common people" the
first lady asked about their lives and their families.

"How many children do you have? And how much money do you earn
a day?" asked the first lady to one of the women coolies.

"I have two children and collect only between Rp 3,000 and Rp
4,000 a day. It is difficult for me to afford sending them to
school. Therefore I need help," the woman said in Javanese
language.

Similar questions were asked of a fruit vendor. To her
surprise, the vendor said she could collect Rp 350,000 per day.

"Thank God that women can work and make money for their
families, and supplement their husbands' income," she said.

The first lady was in Yogyakarta for a seminar which was held
in remembrance of the heroin Kartini. The seminar was organized
by the First Lady Secretariat in cooperation with Rifka Annisa
Women Crisis Center and Institute for Women and Children Study
(LSPAA) Yogyakarta.

In her address, the first lady said that many Indonesian women
saw Kartini as a sacred women as if she had been a goddess.

"Such a view can make us fail to completely understand Kartini
and her struggle," she said, citing artificial events such as
Kartini Dress Contests usually held to remember Kartini.

Shinta said that Indonesian women had been victimized in
development programs during the previous regime. "Behind the
success of Family Planning programs, women were treated as
objects. I'm not saying that such a program is bad. But since the
program violated women's rights, we will not let it go on."
(44/sur)