Indonesia lacks appreciation on women's rights

In observance of the UN Day for Womens Rights that falls on March 8, Rita Serena Kolibonso, executive director of Mitra Perempuan, the Foundation of Elimination of Violence against Women, shared her view on the issue with The Jakarta Posts contributor T. Sima Gunawan. Below is the excerpt of the interview with the activist, who is also a former deputy director of the National Commission of Violence against Women and a founder of the Foundation of Womens Reproductive Rights:

Question: What are the crucial issues regarding womens rights in Indonesia?

Answer: Its the implementation of womens rights in many sectors such as reproductive health, elimination of violence against women, politics and education.

It involves two things. First, the policy of the government to support the appreciation on womens rights, such as the laws and regulations. Second, the appreciation of the society, the individuals and social groups.

Women lack access to obtain their rights to reproductive health. The maternal mortality rate in Indonesia is the highest in South East Asia (with a ratio of 396 deaths per 100,000 births). There is a lack of policy to deal with the problem. In the level of districts and subdistricts, the activities related to the protection of the health of mothers and children are mostly conducted by the society. This is not enough as they need funds and the improvement of their skill.

We recently conducted an in-depth interview with midwives in the Greater Jakarta and we found that since the decentralization policy, the government stopped allocating funds for such a program.

The amendment of the 1945 Constitution in 1999-2002 clearly stipulated womens rights, but this is not followed up with policies in the lower level. There are little efforts from the government to protect womens rights and to promote the implementation of their rights.

Q: The high maternal mortality rate has much to do with unsafe abortion. Abortion is illegal here, unless it is done to save the mother and/or the child as stipulated by Law No. 23/1992. You have repeatedly mentioned that the law should be revised to protect women and to prevent deaths from unsafe abortions.

A: If we talk about the issue, its not just about how to legalize abortion, but about health reproductive rights. Is there enough service from the government on how a woman can use her rights to make a decision about how many children she wants and about the contraceptives? Is there any service on safe abortion? And how about the regulation on how one may terminate her pregnancy?

There are many reasons why a woman wants to terminate the pregnancy. For example, if she is HIV positive, if she is not suitable to deliver a baby, if she is pregnant because of sexual abuse, if she is not ready, psychologically or economically. In many cases married women want to terminate the pregnancy because they are not able to raise the baby properly.

Unfortunately, there is no place where women can get the service for health reproductive counseling. The government has a family planning program, but women need much more than that.

The population bill that has been passed by the House of Representatives mainly discuss about the population growth and demography, but not about womens rights on reproductive health. Many disagree to abortion, saying that it is against the religion and our culture. They have a narrow perception about sex and reproductive health, not consistent and unrealistic. Women who have children outside the wedlock and their children are socially sanctioned. Whats more, if women are not ready economically to raise children, the number of poverty will rise and women who will become more prone to other problems.

Q: Indonesia has the state minister for the empowerment of women and the government has also ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

A: The program for the empowerment of women is not clear. The government ratified the convention in 1984, but this is not implemented properly. The bill on violence against women, which include domestic violence, has not even deliberated (even though the draft has been drawn up more than five years ago).

Q: How serious is the issue?

A: This is very serious, but there is no statistics on domestic violence. It is a hidden crime as our system does not allow the emergence of such cases in court. The cases come forward as they are handled by non-governments organizations.

Last year, for example, we received 272 reports on violence against women in Greater Jakarta and 85 percents of the cases were conducted by husbands against their wife. The crimes also take place in other parts of the country, but people do not regard them important.

Q: Is it because of the patriarchal system in the society?

A: Indeed, yes. The system has been strongly internalized within the people that it has become a part of the culture, as seen in the written materials or unwritten materials. The role of a husband and a wife, for example, is stipulated in marriage law as well as many scientific papers. It is clearly mentioned that the husband is the head of the family.

Q: How about the issue on women and children trafficking?

A: That is another big problem. There are more cases on women and children trafficking. Indonesia has more problems that allow the growth of the crimes as life becomes economically more difficult now. Many productive people lost their job and the economic burden has become the responsibility for the whole family. Children are seen as an asset that can be manipulated to make money. There is a network out there that makes use of this situation, just like in the case of our migrant workers.

And another thing Id like to address here is about polygamy.

I still remember after Indonesia ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the committee of the convention asked the government about the issue. This is also a form of discrimination against women.

Malaysia last year launched a campaign: One wife, one husband. But here, we heard reports about polygamy campaign.

Discrimination against women prevails because of the lack of appreciation on womens rights not only from the government but also from the people. Both the government and the society should improve their awareness on the issue in order to eliminate the discrimination against women.

Q: Women count for 51 percent of the country's population but currently, only nine percent of the 500 legislators are women. The 2003 electoral law requires allows a quota of 30 percent for women representatives in the legislative body.

A: Thats very important. We need more legislators who are gender sensitive to issue laws that can eliminate discrimination against women. Women who are already hold important position as a law maker or a policy maker also need to develop themselves so that they can see the problems and make efforts to find the solution. Like president Megawati, it is not enough for her only to make a call for the people to respect womens rights. She has to make sure that her subordinates implement the policy properly.