Gender discrimination

In response to Dewi Anggraeni's comments about my article on mixed marriages (The Jakarta Post, April 18, 2000, On mixed marriage) in Indonesia, I would suggest that she has missed the point of the article completely. I was merely trying to explain how current Indonesian law discriminates against Indonesian women. She suggests that Indonesia is not an "immigration receiving country". Why then does Indonesia "accept" foreign women who are married to Indonesian men (and their children), but not foreign men married to Indonesian women? Why can the spouse of an Indonesian man settle in Indonesia, but not the spouse of an Indonesian women? If that is not blatant gender discrimination (which is, as I mentioned, in direct violation of the United Nations' regulations), then I don't know what is. I rest my case.

MARTIN R JENKINS

Jakarta