Government forms team to help assaulted women in May riots

JAKARTA (JP): The government has set up a special team to help women who were sexually assaulted during the May riots, Minister of Women's Affairs Tutty Alawiyah said here yesterday.

Briefing journalists after attending a limited coordinating meeting with President B.J. Habibie at Bina Graha presidential office, Tutty said the team would work closely with all related parties, including non-governmental organizations (NGO's).

"We'll ask several experts, especially experts on women's affairs, in this case those from universities, and we'll also work with NGOs, religious figures and also with the National Commission on Human Rights."

The group is named the Team on the Protection of Women against Violence.

It will be chaired by Tutty with the first lady, Hasri Ainun Besari Habibie, as patron.

"The team will start work as soon as possible. Its tasks will be to help provide a feeling of security to women, ensuring that they are legally protected, providing psychological services, health services, as well as religious and spiritual services," she said.

Tutty denied that the team was a catch-up measure to quiet the growing public condemnation of the government for failing to do enough to help women who fell victim during the riots.

At a separate event later yesterday, Tutty insisted that she had denounced the abuse.

"It's just that it has been underexposed (through the state- run RRI radio station)," she told The Jakarta Post. She said she publicly condemned the riots and the violations against women on June 9.

Tutty admitted she had the impression the public had little confidence in the government concerning the issue.

The misperception, she claimed, made it difficult for the government to obtain data on the violence.

"But I want to stress that our will to help is sincere... I plead for openness," she said.

During the calamitous riots that hit the capital in May, an estimated 1,200 people were killed and there were widespread reports of the rape of Chinese-Indonesian women and girls. (prb/aan)