Gender discrimination

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