Japanese MPs vow help Indonesian 'jugun ianfu'

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Four female Japanese members of parliament have arrived in Jakarta with the hope of encouraging Indonesian women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II to speak out.

During their two-day visit to the capital, the women legislators from different opposition political parties will check on the condition of the so-called "comfort women," known as "jugun ianfu" in the Japanese language.

The Japanese MPs believe that reparations for -- and the investigation into -- these human rights abuses did not end when Japan paid 13.8 million Japanese yen (about US$102,600) in compensation to the Indonesian government in 1998 through the Asian Women's Fund organization, which is supported by the Japanese government.

"The Japanese government claimed that the matter has been settled under the Memorandum of Understanding with the Asian Women's Fund (AWF). But AWF is not representing the government," said the mission's leader Tomiko Okazaki of the Democratic Party of Japan.

She also publicized reports voicing doubts that the AWF money, collected from donors, and ostensibly used to build homes in several Indonesian provinces, has ever actually benefited the elderly women.

Okazaki said that the coalition of parties, which also includes the Japanese Communist and Social Democratic Parties, is now pushing for an act on the resolution for issues concerning former victims of wartime sexual slavery.

While acknowledging that these efforts have come 60 years too late, she highlighted that the fact that the act would force the Japanese government atone for its historical misdeeds by conveying an official apology, and providing proper compensation to the victims.

"If this act is passed, then the Japanese government must take the responsibility to order a full investigation into what really happened during that time," she said.

Haruko Yoshikawa of the Japanese Communist Party said that she was convinced that the act would succeed because, although the ruling coalition holds 56 percent of the seats in the upper house, many of the legislators sided with the opponents.

During World War II, some 200,000 young women from Indonesia, Korea, China, the Philippines, Taiwan and other Asian countries were taken from their families and forced to serve as sex slaves by Japanese soldiers.

Many efforts have been made to bring their cause to justice through a proper apology and reparations. But Tokyo, to the ire of many of its Asian neighbors, has remained steadfast in its stance that its previous compensations have been sufficient.

The Indonesian government has never mustered the political will to fight for the interests of comfort women.

Jakarta's stance was perhaps best epitomized a few years ago in the words of the former minister of social affairs Inten Suweno, who said that the funds already provided by Japan were sufficient, and that the matter should be dropped, as the issue was "a disgrace to the nation."

The only trial against the Japanese government ever held here took place in 1944, but it was for jugun ianfu violations under the aegis of the Dutch colonial administration.

The Foundation of Former Indonesian Japanese Militia (Heiho) and Jugun Ianfu registered 17,000 comfort women across the country, although the Ministry of Social Affairs set the number at only 10,000.

The Japanese legislators were scheduled to meet with several top state officials on Wednesday for further talks.