Women's dignity is the casualty in the mass rapes

Women's dignity is the casualty in the mass rapes

By Rita A. Widiadana

JAKARTA (JP): Words are not enough to describe the anguish,
helplessness and humiliation of a woman raped.

Feelings of their male kin, some of whom saw with their own
eyes the assaults on their wives and daughters, are equally
difficult to put into neat, articulate sentences.

Hananto, not his real name, said his wife chose death to end
the pain.

Deeply shamed, she refused to eat and speak after her rape.

"When we left her just for a second, she gulped a can of
Baygon (a brand of insecticide) and died instantly," he told the
National Commission on Human Rights last week.

Another man said: "Why do people keep intimidating us? We
never feel we are Chinese because we were born in Indonesia and
we are Indonesian citizens."

Terrible tales and the tormented emotions of many Chinese-
Indonesians are only now beginning to trickle out following the
riots which wreaked havoc in Jakarta and other cities on May 14-
May 15.

Irwanto, a sociologist from Atma Jaya University in Jakarta,
said a broad spectrum of gripes was behind the targeting of
Chinese-Indonesians, particularly women.

"It was obviously seen as having cultural, economic and
political dimensions."

He pinpointed the community's oft-cited scapegoating over
issues of uneven wealth and welfare distribution.

"The mob would not dare to attack the government, which is
also responsible for bringing down their lives ...

"There are only a few people of Chinese origin who are rich
and conduct 'crooked' businesses."

But people have frequently tainted the entire Chinese-
Indonesian community by summarily associating it with a few
greedy tycoons.

Last Wednesday, a group of Chinese-Indonesians lodged their
complaints with the National Commission on Human Rights. They
demanded the government's protection and a thorough investigation
into the riots, including rapes of their relatives.

Irwanto explained that mass rapes and sexual torture of women
in times of crisis were nothing new. Women and children are the
most vulnerable group in a society and their lives can be easily
shaken by crises, including riot and war.

He said the sexual assaults, spoken of only in whispers until
a few days ago, were the manifestation of male dominance over
women.

Symbolic

Rape, he explained, was an aggressive act committed by a man
or a group of men which was not meant primarily for sexual
satisfaction but satisfied the perpetrators in their humiliation
and dominance of the victims.

"Since women of Chinese descent were mostly victims of the
rape, the act exemplifies the mob's hatred against this
community."

Violence committed against these women can be regarded as
symbolic rape of the body of that community, Irwanto said.

Sita Aripurnami, an executive of the Kalyanamitra women's
organization, said the rapes were not only against the victims
themselves, but symbolically attacked Indonesian women in
general.

The organization is handling several reports of abuse during
the riots.

"We consider these rapes as serious violations against women's
rights to live in peace in their country," Sita said.

Most of the reports involved Chinese-Indonesian women.

"But, we are still investigating whether women of other
communities were also affected."

She added an important caveat: "I hate to say indigenous women
because we are all Indonesian women."

The rapes reflected the degradation and humiliation of women,
she said. The rapes embody patriarchal values toward female
citizens, in which women's rights are not respected, promoted and
protected both by society and authorities, Sita said.

It also showed that women, even within their own society or
own cultural groups, run a considerably greater risk of being
victims of bodily harmed than men.

"In a rape, there is a desire to harm and destroy a woman as
'woman' because the essence of her independence and sense of
wholeness as a woman and as a human being is attacked by the
rapist," explained Sita, who is active in various antirape
campaigns and the protection of women's rights.

The rapists tried to show their power by attacking women's
reproductive organs, symbolically viewed by the society as
representing dignity and sanctity, she said.

"Now, we have to work very hard to restore and to recover the
dignity of victims of rapes."

Irwanto added that it would be a long, difficult process for
rape victims to recover, if they ever do.

"I am glad to see women's crisis centers and humanitarian
activists working hand in hand to help rape victims or other
women who were sexually abused during the May riots. But I don't
see any program launched by the government," Irwanto said.

"Many government measures are unclear and confusing. These
victims badly need security guarantees and protection. Therefore,
the government should outline concrete steps."

Lack of sensitivity

The State Minister of Women's Affairs has just opened a hot
line service to accommodate complaints of riot victims,
particularly women, but many view the move as coming too late.
Moreover, there was no concrete program announced by the office.

Ratna Batara Munti from the Association of Indonesian Women
for Justice (APIK) was incensed by State Minister of Women's
Affairs Tutty Alawiyah's apparent lack of sensitivity to the
plight of the women.

"I am very disappointed that the minister has not shown a
sense of crisis in these rape cases and other forms of violence
against women during the riot," Ratna said. "She (the minister)
is actually the one who has access to power to probe this issue
and who is capable of mobilizing immediate assistance for the
victims. But, she has done very little, or probably nothing."

Sita added that in some rape cases victims were entitled to
have legal representatives, support and professional help in
medical and psychological fields when they report their case to
crisis centers or the police.

"This requires a lot of money and a lot of human resources
which we, non-profit organizations and humanitarian activists,
don't have. The minister of women's roles can actually provide
needed facilities, if she is willing to do so," Sita said.

More importantly, Ratna said, the minister should be able to
convince her colleagues that rape and other violence against
women were not just a "sad effect of the riots", but real
problems faced by women in their daily lives.