Scholar Julia takes on patriarchal powers

Scholar Julia takes on patriarchal powers

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor/Jakarta

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Sex, Power, Nation
An Anthology of Writings 1979-2003
Julia I. Suryakusuma, Metafor Publishing, 2004
Rp 108,000
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Amid speculation and anxiety about the next presidency and the
nation's future, Julia Suryakusuma has launched an anthology of
her writings in English published between 1979 and 2003, to mark
her 50th birthday.

It is dedicated to a "new Indonesia".

Julia is Indonesia's most unique citizen: an outstanding
writer, whose sociopolitical and cultural analyses cut through
most of her articles spanning almost a quarter century. Her
critical reflections on issues, written at a time when critical
comments were considered dissident, testify to her daring and
forward-looking spirit.

"Subconsciously, I have always been writing for the future,"
she states. "I'd like to think that when I write, I do not only
inform, but perhaps also enlighten and change people's mind set
by debunking, deconstructing and demystifying. I write to excite,
provoke, touch and move."

Uniquely, Julia uses sexuality as a tool of analysis and to
show the ills of state power, perhaps the first and only one to
do so in such a fascinating, interdisciplinary manner.

She has worked as an independent scholar, researcher, editor
and freelance writer for national and international media.

She has written about virtually every single event of
importance and issues that stir society. It is therefore
surprising that the ethnic clash involving Madurese migrants and
indigenous Dayak tribesmen in West Kalimantan in early 2001, and
the All-Aceh Women's Congress (2000), that managed to reach
agreement among over 500 women representatives on a blueprint for
peace in their troubled land, remain undocumented in her
collection of writings.

Nevertheless, published at the juncture of historical and
contemporary concerns, the anthology is enlightening, serious,
intelligent and inspiring reading, mapping political events with
sociological, psychological and cultural insight as well as the
economic backlashes. Issues of national leadership, press
freedom, labor and women remain relevant up to this day.

Titled Sex, Power, Nation, the collection of articles unravel
the intricate relations and the power shared by sexuality and the
state. Unusual in her views, Julia reveals the inner workings of
the patriarchal ideology on the workings of the state, its
institutions, its laws and regulations and the consequences for
the status of women.

The book is divided into three sections that interrelate with
each other, but each chapter stands as a noteworthy piece on its
own.

Building a New Nation? includes nine articles, beginning with
the stirring events during the 10 days in May 1998 just before
and after Soeharto's resignation, and the euphoria of reformasi.
Julia elaborates on why reformasi could not substantiate into
greater change.

Sex and Power has nine articles dealing with the broader
issues of ideology, the relationship between state and society,
between men and women, as well as between the Indonesian domestic
situation and the international context, highlighted from a
pronounced gender dimension.

Literature, Exploration and Boundaries has two articles
representing her oldest and her newest piece in the anthology.
They explore how literature has been used both to control and
liberate.

Highlights of the anthology include: SOS! Psyche in Crisis!,
telling of the loss of soul of a people and nation, in which she
elaborates about the five aspects of the Indonesian psyche:
immature, fearful, powerless, irrational and having difficulty in
managing ourselves; The Leaders We Deserve: Leaders as a
reflection of the people; Sex and The Bureaucratic Position: The
State Regulation of Sexuality; Bayoneting the Vagina: Militarism
and Violence against Women, and State Ibuism: Appropriating and
Distorting Womanhood in New Order Indonesia, as the underlying
basis of all.

State Ibuism was Julia's thesis for her master's degree, which
she gained in 1988. The treatise is a sharp critique on the
systematic state domestication of women through such
organizations as the Dharma Wanita (civil servants' wives
organization) and the PKK (family welfare program). Here Julia
voices her concern about the patriarchal ideology cutting through
all layers of life and society.

"In line with the notion of the state as family, one could
also call the predominant gender ideology as Bapak-Ibuism,
encompassing the entire society, with Bapak as the primary source
of power and Ibu as one of the mediums of this power," she wrote.

But it is in Sex and the Bureaucratic Position that she
pinpoints the military as a main player in the ideological
construction of patriarchy, "because of the influence of the
notion of combat in the concept of manhood and justifications of
male superiority in the social order".

In Bayoneting the Vagina, Julia sharpens her focus, saying
that "violence against women [VAW] has its origins in a value
system of sexist discrimination. VAW is therefore not an
aberration, but a natural extension of a patriarchal belief
system, which sees women as subordinate to men, and which gives
the latter the right to control women."

Taking it a bit further, she writes "... militarism as an
extreme form of patriarchy has seeped into the fiber of
Indonesian society ..."

Julia's excellence in analyzing matters of social and
political nature also makes itself felt in her essay on literary
debates in Indonesia 1950-1965 and Lekra, the cultural body of
the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) at the time, and her broad
review of the works of three young women writers.

For Indonesians, the articles compiled in this anthology bring
back the turbulence that came along with the politics and
politicking of that time, and the debilitating impact it had on
people's (uncertain) lives.

They will also gain a deeper understanding of the reasons why
things happened the way they did, as well as the intricate
connections between patriarchy, the military and violence against
women. It is hoped it will also induce the reader to rethink what
has been culturally, socially and politically taken for granted.

For foreigners and those who were abroad at the time, the
anthology presents a comprehensive view of recent history,
filling in the gaps with in-depth information from an insider
whose skills of expression are unmatched.