May rapes become political issue

May rapes become political issue

By Julia I. Suryakusuma

JAKARTA (JP): Rape may appear to be personal in nature, with
the trauma and pain only being felt fully by the victim. But in
reality rape has very deep and broad ramifications.

This was obvious in the terrible gang rapes of women of
Chinese descent during the riots of May 13 and May 14, 1998.

"The personal becomes political," feminists say, but on moral,
social and national levels these rapes are every Indonesian
citizen's responsibility, and also that of the state's.

Rape which occurs on such a large scale and using the methods
employed during the riots in May marks the nadir of the
Indonesian people's humanity. Thus the deeper significance of the
rapes needs to be understood, so that we can start to embark on
our moral and spiritual revival.

Many activities have been conducted by women's groups to
address the May rapes. The Volunteer Team for Humanity has a
hotline and counseling services. It also conducts investigations,
documents cases, compiles data and engages in public education
and training.

Mitra Perempuan, a woman's crisis center, held a panel
discussion on June 29 on the psychological, social, political and
legal aspects of the rape cases. Like the Volunteer Team, it also
has a hotline and counseling services.

The Women's Coalition for Justice and Democracy conducted an
open forum on July 4 about violence against women. The coalition
is also planning a series of events to raise awareness on the
thorny subject, between July 24 (the day of the Declaration on
the Elimination of Violence Against Women) and Dec. 10 (Human
Rights Day) this year.

On July 7, the coalition together with the Volunteer Team met
with the Commission on Human Rights whereby the women's groups
demanded a thorough investigation of the rape cases and an
apology from the government.

After the meeting, the rights commission officially "condemned
the act of sexual violence conducted on a large scale, that can
be qualified as intimidation and even the terrorization of a
certain ethnic group". It was only then that the government came
out with a statement officially condemning the rapes.

On July 15, after a meeting with the Society Against Cruelty
Toward Women, President Habibie himself strongly condemned the
acts and expressed deep regret at the incident, but has yet to
offer an apology on behalf of the government.

Initially, the government showed remarkable insensitivity
about the rapes, reflected in the statements of the minister of
defense, minister of justice, and even the minister of women's
affairs.

In essence, they said that before there was any proof, the
rapes were just rumors. This cavalier attitude incensed not only
the women's groups, but also the public at large. "Does her
daughter have to be raped first before she (Tutty Alawiyah, the
minister of women's affairs) believes?" was one angry remark
uttered.

Rape is an extremely sensitive and delicate matter and cannot
be dealt with like other criminal offenses. The physical wounds
of rape heal relatively quickly, but the emotional trauma may
last a lifetime. After the nightmare of rape, a victim may not
even be willing to come out of her room, let alone face a group
of strangers to report her ordeal.

The difficulty to maintain a sense of self-worth makes many
victims attempt to bury from consciousness the recollections of
the cruel events that befell them. They may only be able to speak
about the incident many years later, as in the case of the
Japanese army's comfort women during WWII.

It is felt that reporting the incident to the military or the
police would be akin to reporting a burglary to the thief. There
is strong suspicion that the riots and rapes were organized, with
the involvement of some members of the military.

In many people's minds, the military is a "killing machine",
synonymous with violence and murder. There are strong
indications, and also some evidence, of the military's
involvement in violence against women in Aceh, Irian Jaya, East
Timor and in the Marsinah case.

Rape is equivalent to murder: the killing of the soul.
However, mass rape -- such as during the May riots, or in Bosnia,
Cambodia, Korea, Liberia, Peru, Somalia, Uganda and many other
countries where rape is an integral part of military strategy to
paralyze the enemy -- has deeper implications not only for the
victims, but also to society as a whole.

The rapes which occurred last May is an indication of the
degree of sickness of present-day Indonesian society. The current
crisis in Indonesia is of massive proportions, and is
overwhelmingly deep and complex, ranging from a food crisis to a
crisis in morality.

The crisis, which started initially as a monetary crisis, has
become an all-encompassing one. Indonesians have reached the
point of extreme and unbearable frustration. There is then a
tendency to direct this frustration at the easiest target:
Indonesian women of Chinese origin.

Racism and sexism are like twin siblings with ugly, sinister
and frightening faces. The ethnic Chinese are targeted because
they have been identified as having received special economic
privileges in the New Order.

Women are targeted because ideologically, culturally and
socially they are construed as weak and inferior. It is
impossible to target the frustration at the ruling elite, who
bear the major responsibility for Indonesia's present
predicament, because they are protected by the military, who have
a legitimate use of violence.

Therefore, Chinese women have become a "logical" target. They
are unable to defend themselves, much less retaliate, especially
if they are killed afterward. It is estimated that seven out of
eight women who were raped last May were subsequently murdered.

Why have women's groups demanded an apology from the
government? Not only is the state morally responsible for last
May's tragic incident, it is also often guilty of engaging in
violence against its own citizens, through neglect (not
performing its responsibility to provide protection) as well as
through outright repression and violence.

Indirectly, economic and political decisions which burden the
people create conditions conducive to violence. An increase in
economic pressure proportionally raises the rate of criminality
and violence, including domestic violence, usually committed by
men against women. However, all types of violence against women
are used to control and limit them and confine them in their
prescribed roles and behavior.

Rape is only one of the extreme forms of violence against
women. Violence against women is not only universal, but also
pervasive and endemic, and suffered by women during their entire
life cycle, even before birth.

The practice of gender-based abortion is common in China,
India and Korea. Within the first few years of a child's life,
infanticide and genital mutilation may occur.

During childhood, molestation by family members or strangers,
as well as child prostitution can take place. When they enter
their teens, date-related sexual coercion, sexual harassment and
rape may happen. In their reproductive years, violence committed
by male partners, marital rape and psychological torture can
occur.

Even in old age, inhuman treatment against widows and old
women, isolation or stealing of possessions are known to happen.

Violence against women, whether subtle or blatant, whether
physical or psychological, is considered commonplace and
part-and-parcel of a patriarchal culture where men rule social
bodies as well as the physical bodies of women.

Sexism is so deeply rooted, not just within conservative
members of the society, but even among so-called "progressive"
and "prodemocracy" men, who often unconsciously still behave in a
discriminative manner toward women.

Violence against women is not only misdirected victimization,
but also a means to reduce and oversimplify an extremely complex
crisis. But conversely, perhaps we can also use it as a starting
point to unravel the crisis that currently grips Indonesia.

Violence against women also mirrors men's fear, that of being
manipulated by various parties, including the state, for its own
benefit.

The urgently needed reforms in Indonesia clearly cannot be
conducted with fear as a rationale. We have to understand why all
of us -- women and men, old and young, indigenous and
nonindigenous, military and civilian, the government and the
people -- are so much under the grip of fear, and have such a
need to identify the "other" as the target of our fear.

Fear is the source of violence, which becomes the main
obstacle toward achieving the total reform -- and revival -- that
we are all aiming for.

The writer is a social commentator and a women's activist.