Marital rape victims get better attention

BANDUNG (JP): The currently growing attention to issues of domestic violence such as marital rape is caused by an increasing awareness concerning individuals' rights and a shift in values, a seminar concluded here yesterday.

Legal expert A.S. Natabaya, sociologist Pius S. Kartasasmita and psychologist Sutardjo A. Wiramihardja agreed in the discussion that openness and the globalization of information were two other factors that have caused people to discuss marital rape -- something which was not even acknowledged here a few decades ago -- and demand for legal protection for its victims.

"This is where we should apply a filter -- made from religious teaching and Indonesian culture -- so that people won't immediately think that anything that comes from the West is right and modern," Natabaya said.

Pius said one in seven women in the United States has been a victim of marital rape. "The more incidents of marital rape in a community, the more negative it is viewed, resulting in more demands to establish (laws on it)," he said in support of laws to protect victims of marital rape.

Natabaya, however, pointed out that there was not even a clear-cut definition as to what constitutes marital rape. "The process of defining marital rape is not yet finished. (It's different with) marital violence, which needs no new regulations since violence can be investigated," he said.

He suggested preventative measures, including a campaign to revive the values of marriage which would publicize the rights and the obligations between husband and wife.

He also pointed out that in Indonesian culture, marriage was a very personal matter in which no outside parties could interfere, even when it was facing rifts. Therefore, as long as there was no violence, a married couple should just opt for divorce if they felt there were unreconcilable differences between them. (43)