Women can help beat the crisis: Habibie

Women can help beat the crisis: Habibie

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie said yesterday that
Indonesian women could play a pivotal role in restoring the
country's economy if they were given adequate opportunity,
especially in developing cooperatives and in distributing
essential commodities throughout the country.

The President hoped that women, especially from poor families,
would be involved in the government-sponsored labor intensive
projects to enable them to better feed their family members.

"We need to... boost the country's women's economic
potential," Habibie said when opening a national workshop on
women's roles in national development at the Bina Graha
presidential office.

The three-day workshop is chaired by State Minister of Women's
Affairs Tutty Alawiyah and attended by the country's 27
provincial vice governors in charge of women affairs.

Habibie acknowledged that women had been particularly affected
by the economic crisis which had caused people's per capita
income to drop.

He was confident that his new government would be able to cure
the ailing economy and bring back prosperity to the nation,
although he said it would take time.

"We all believe that the Development and Reform Cabinet will
be able to lead Indonesia out of the crisis and continue the
development," Habibie noted in his address.

Habibie, who replaced president Soeharto in May, has
repeatedly reaffirmed his commitment to give women equal
opportunity to participate in development and to protect their
rights.

Tomorrow he is scheduled to launch the National Committee
Against Violence Toward Women, the main mission of which is to
investigate the rape of 168 women during May's riots.

In her report to the President, Tutty said her office was
acting as facilitator to encourage women to increase their roles
in the development process.

"We have also stepped up efforts to resolve all urgent
problems caused by the current economic situation, and the
impacts of the social riots, especially those related to violence
against women," Tutty said.

Tutty, a noted Islamic preacher, has been widely criticized
for her slow response to reports about the mass rape and killing
of women during May's riots. (prb)