L'autonomie régionale restreint les droits des femmes

Par Richel Dursin

Inter Press Service - JAKARTA, 20 janvier 2005

When regional autonomy was implemented in Indonesia four years ago, women, who account for more than half of the country's population, thought they would play a greater role in making decisions. However, over the years, they found themselves all the more left out and discriminated against.

''With the implementation of regional autonomy, local administrations have created various bylaws that victimise women,'' Adriana Venny, executive director of the Women's Journal Foundation told IPS.

Results of case studies in eight regencies, conducted by the foundation, showed that the massive and drastic implementation of regional autonomy has encouraged local administrations to issue policies that curtail women's rights.

Regional autonomy leaves only five main responsibilities in the hands of the central government namely diplomatic relations, national defence, fiscal and monetary authority, the judicial system and religious affairs.

In Padang, West Sumatra, where the society was long known to be ''matriarchal'', the local government created a regulation prohibiting women to go out at night without a companion. But there's strong public resistance to its implementation.

Local authorities in Padang stressed that the regulation prohibiting women to go out between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. is aimed at curbing rising prostitution in the city.

''On the streets of Padang, starting at 7 p.m. we could see a lot of vehicles shaking,'' said local politician Marfendi, referring to commercial sexual activities taking place inside cars.

In protesting against its implementation, the Coalition of Indonesian Women argued that providing alternative livelihoods, instead of banning women from venturing out in the evening, would help curb prostitution in the city.

In conflict-torn areas like Poso, Central Sulawesi, Ambon and Maluku, the implementation of decentralisation has resulted in policies that only cater to the needs of men.

''For instance, the local administrations of Poso and Ambon prioritise the distribution of cigarettes to men over the handing out of sanitary napkins to women. This is very typical in conflict-torn areas and we see this happening too in the province of Aceh,'' said Gadis Arivia, the director of Women's Journal Foundation, a local non-governmental organisation.

The Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami hit Aceh very badly and the death toll stands at more than 166,000 - though the true figure may never be known. More than 6,000 people are listed as missing. The number of homeless in Aceh and North Sumatra is estimated at 800,000.

''The giving out of sanitary napkins to women in refugee centres is not the main concern of local governments, but nonetheless it's very important especially for women who are having their period,'' Arivia said in an interview.

In Jember, East Java, local authorities are also conducting sweeping operations against women who go out in the evening, believing they work as prostitutes.

In Cianjur, Ciamis and Tasikmalaya, all in West Java, authorities are preparing for the implementation of Islamic rules that require women, including non-Muslims, to wear appropriate Muslim clothes as well as headscarves, for women tend to ''tempt all types of sins by exposing themselves''.

The regent of Tasikmalaya also issued a circular obliging the management of public swimming pools to set different schedules for men and women using the pools. They are also required to provide instructors of the same gender for students taking swimming lessons.

''In most cases, local policies, made possible with the power vested in regional autonomy, were issued without involving women in the decision-making process and are based on Islamic law,'' said Arivia.

Unfortunately, in Muslim-dominated Indonesia, a number of people interpret Islam narrowly and want Islamic law, popularly known here as 'syariah', to be implemented throughout the country, according to political analyst Dewi Fortuna Anwar,

''The demand for 'syariah' is growing in the provinces,'' Anwar told IPS.

Several political parties like the Islam-based reformist Prosperous and Justice Party, once headed by Hidayat Nur Wahid, speaker of the powerful People's Consultative Assembly, and the Crescent Star Party of State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra have been pushing for the implementation of 'syariah' in Indonesia.

Even before he was elected, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was reported to be in favour of the implementation of Islamic laws in the country, but he later denied it.

Indonesia's founding fathers wrote a constitution in 1945 for a secular government that promoted religious tolerance between the Muslim majority and Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and other minorities.

Successive governments have fended off calls for Indonesia to become an Islamic state. In 2002, legislators turned down strong requests to revise the constitution to include Islamic law. Also the country's largest Muslim group, the Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, has repeatedly opposed making 'syariah' a state policy.

''Indonesia is a secular country and its population is not just made up of men. So, laws should be made based on the needs of all sexes,'' Arivia said.

For a long time in Indonesia, where 85 percent of the country's 215 million people are Muslims and the patriarchal system is deeply rooted, women have been discriminated against.

''Indonesian parents are the ones to be blamed because they perpetuate discrimination against women,'' Anwar said.

Anwar pointed out that parents 'brainwashed' their children at a very young age into thinking that girls are in charge of household chores.

While their roles have been culturally confined at home as a wife and mother, restrictions on women's activities had never been given legitimacy until the devolution of power and authority from the central government to local governments in January 2001.

In tsunami-ravaged and conflict-torn Aceh, for example, women were already wearing headscarves even before the special autonomy status was granted in 2002. Following the introduction of its special status, however, the predominantly Muslim province issued a bylaw, locally known as 'qanun', which mandates women, including non-Muslims, and even tourists visiting the province to wear clothes appropriate to Islamic law.

For not wearing an appropriate headscarf, locally known as 'jilbab', in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, a woman activist was fined 75,000 rupiahs (8 U.S. dollars) by the police last year.

A section in one of Aceh's bylaws stipulates that visitors or tourists from other regions or overseas should adjust their behaviour, activities and clothes to the Islamic way of life of the Acehnese.

''To all women, do not invite men to commit sins with your uncovered body,'' read a banner that was hanging in the office of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in Banda Aceh, before the Dec. 26 tsunami flattened the city. (END/2005)