*IBRAHIM ISA'S FOCUS -- 21 APRIL. 2013
COMEMMORATING R.A. KARTINI
----------------------------------------
*100 YEARS AFTER KARTINI, WOMEN STILL LACK RIGHTS IN INDONESIA*
* * *
*Applying Kartini's Message in Present-Day Indonesia*
*100 YEARS AFTER KARTINI, WOMEN STILL LACK RIGHTS IN INDONESIA
*Celebrating Kartini Day With Letters By the Heroine*
*Women Continue Long Battle for Rights in Indonesia*
* * *
*Applying Kartini's Message in Present-Day Indonesia*
*Abdul Qowi Bastian* | April 21, 2013
"In my mind and heart," a young woman read. She took a deep breath and
went on, "... I do not wholly live in the Dutch East Indies; I feel like
I live in an era with my white sisters in the far away West."
The young woman stood on a stage in a dimly lit room. In her hands were
letters written more than 100 years ago. Accompanied by acoustic guitar
and violin, university student Winner Fransisca read excerpts from a
letter written by Kartini, an Indonesian heroine, in May 1899 to a
penpal in the Netherlands.
Activists, academics and artists on Thursday read Kartini's letters to
remember her ideas that inspired the women's emancipation movement in
Indonesia.
Kartini, usually referred to by her title Raden Ajeng, was born into an
aristocratic Javanese family on April 21, 1879. Her father was a
district head of Jepara in Central Java. Her mother was his father's
first wife. During the Dutch colonial era, polygamy was a common practice.
Her father being a Javanese aristocrat working for the colonial
administration, Kartini had the privilege to attend school, which
exposed her to Western ideas and feminist thinking. She was fluent in
Dutch, an unusual accomplishment for Javanese women at the time.
Kartini attended school until the age of 12. Under the old Javanese
tradition, she was secluded at home to prepare for marriage. During this
seclusion period, she wrote letters to her friends abroad. The letters
were compiled into a book called "Habis Gelap Terbitlah Terang" ("Out of
Darkness Into Light") and published posthumously.
In 1964, she was declared an Indonesian national heroine by President
Sukarno and her birthday was subsequently named Kartini Day, which is
celebrated annually.
During President Suharto's New Order era, however, the image of Kartini
was reconfigured from that of a radical feminist to a domestic wife.
"We read her letters to remind Indonesia that Kartini Day is not about
women and girls wearing kebayas and batik with elaborate hairstyles
supposedly replicating Kartini's attire," said Okky Madasari, an
award-winning novelist and one of the event organizers. "It's about
remembering her ideas and what she fought for."
Okky and Faiza Mardzoeki, playwright and director of the Purple
Institute, held an event reading Kartini's letters on Thursday to
commemorate Kartini Day, which takes place today.
Kartini dedicated her life to improving the conditions of Javanese
women, who had low social status, through education. But Kartini's
concerns spanned beyond women's empowerment. Not only did she want
indigenous women to reach their dreams, attain freedom and obtain legal
equality, she also criticized the education system and mainstream religion.
Kartini, through her letters, protested against any obstacle for the
development of Javanese women. When her parents arranged her marriage to
a district head of Rembang --- who was 25 years older than her and
already had three wives --- at first she resisted, but eventually agreed
to appease her ailing father. She later added one condition: She could
establish a school for women.
"Kartini was a survivor, she was a victim of feudalism. She fought with
her pen, wrote and established a school," Faiza said.
*
Women and marriage *
"I do not respect Javanese men. How could I admire a married man who, if
bored with the mother of his children, could bring another woman into
his house and marry her legally under Islamic law?" author Firliana
Purwanti recited a passage from another of Kartini's letter.
One hundred and thirty four years since the birth of Kartini, her
progressive ideas still ring true to the ears of Indonesian women today.
Despite marrying a man who was already married, Kartini was staunchly
against polygamy.
Last year, former Garut district head Aceng Fikri married a 17-year-old
girl to be his second wife. After only four days, he divorced her via
text message.
"A lot of men still practice polygamy, although since about 100 years
ago, it has been seen as unfair," Faiza said.
Women who are in a polygamous relationship are also prone to suffering
psychological abuse, she added.
Sri Nurherwati, the head of the recovery system development commission
of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan),
said such cases were a result of patriarchal elements of Indonesia's
culture and legal system.
In another case involving a public official, the wife of Magelang deputy
mayor Joko Prasetyo, Siti Rubaidah, reported her husband to the police
in January this year after he repeatedly hit her.
Sri said that despite the existence of laws against domestic violence,
it was often treated as a personal issue rather than a public one.
"There are hardly any reports because of the imbalanced relationship
between the husband and wife," she said. "Wives are often ignored and
domestic violence is often considered a family matter."
Indonesia's efforts to empower women have also been hampered by weak
implementation of laws and legislation designed to promote women's rights.
Additionally, there are exsisting laws and bylaws that work against
women. Komnas Perempuan in 2012 released a report that found 282 bylaws
that discriminated against women. Among them were bylaws that prohibited
women from dressing in certain ways and going out late at night.
Indonesia is also struggling in the women's development sector as the
deadline for reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
approaches. Under the MDGs, the country's maternal mortality rate must
decrease to 102 per 100,000 by 2015.
Based on the United Nations Development Program's Gender Development
Index, Indonesia's current maternal mortality rate of 228 per 100,000
remains one of the highest in Southeast Asia.
Limited access to hospitals and clinics has been blamed for the
difficulties in reducing the maternal mortality rate by exposing women
to higher risks of infection.
Kartini herself died only four days after giving birth to a child in
1904, a year after her marriage.
*Educating the people *
"Providing a good education is like the government putting a lantern in
the hands of the people, so they can find their own way..." actress Tiga
Setia Gara voiced Kartini's desire for decent education for her people.
Prior to her untimely death at the age of 25, Kartini founded a school
for young girls; she obtained permission to open the first all-girls
school in the nation. Kartini realized that education is everyone's
right, but unfortunately not every child in Indonesia today has access
to quality education.
Although 95 percent of Indonesian children are enrolled in elementary
school, according to a report released by UNDP, the country's education
system is routinely criticized for its emphasis on rote learning rather
than creative thinking.
From charges of setting an irrelevant curriculum to corruption
allegations, wide-scale cheating in the national exams and substandard
facilities, Indonesia's national education system has long been a target
of criticism.
Indonesia Corruption Watch has sounded the alarm over the alleged misuse
of the education budget.
"Based on ICW's observations on corruption in the education sector in
2012, there were at least 40 corruption cases uncovered," researcher
Siti Juliantari said.
She attributed the high corruption rate in the education sector to lack
of transparency and accountability and schools in planning their spending.
*Kartini's unfinished business *
Kartini's legacy has remain strong until today as Indonesian women are
still trying to make their way through a male-dominated society.
However, Indonesian women, to a point, are better off today than they
were in Kartini's time. Women now can run for political office but there
are still much work to be done.
A number of women on top are sadly entangled in corruption cases, names
such as Angelina Sondakh, Miranda Goeltom and Hartati Murdaya spring
into mind. And ironically enough, a Semarang anti-corruption judge
Kartini Marpaung was sentenced to eight years in jail, just days before
Kartini Day.
Gender equality does not come automatically. It has taken hundreds of
years to reach the point where Indonesian women are today. Young girls
want to follow Kartini's footsteps but they tend to overlook her ideas
and are drawn to her oversimplified symbol. The war for women's
empowerment is not over and the fight to create a country without
injustice and discrimination continues.
Indonesian women are still struggling to practice what Kartini advocated
in her letters, but as we are reminded by her letters: "If we want to
attain a perfect civilization, then the maturation of intelligence and
conscience must go side by side."
* * *
* * **
*
100 YEARS AFTER KARTINI, WOMEN STILL LACK RIGHTS IN INDONESIA*
Johannes Mugroho, April 21, 2013
"Religion must guard us against committing sins, but more often, sins
are committed in the name of religion," wrote early 20th century
Indonesian women's rights pioneer Raden Ajeng Kartini. In her
correspondence with Estella Zeehandelaar, she also expressed her
profound opposition to polygamy, a common practice among members of the
Javanese nobility of her day, sanctioned by religion. And yet the great
Kartini herself in the end had to bow to customs and religion when her
father married her off as the fourth wife of the Regent of Rembang.
More ironically still, more than one hundred years after Kartini's
death, even though arranged marriages are mostly extinct, religious
doctrine has continued to be used against the advancement of women's
rights in this country. The cases range from being medieval to downright
ridiculous.
Hasan Ahmad, 47, a member of the legislative Council of Sampang, Madura,
was recently arrested by the police for having had sex with nine
underage girls. While acknowledging that his action was in breach of the
law, Ahmad maintained that according to Islamic law he had not committed
adultery as he had a cleric perform a marital rite --- in a car ---
before engaging in sex with each one of the teenagers.
As Islam only allows four wives, Ahmad also revealed that he almost
always divorced them after paying their sexual services. During his
interview with the press, he laughingly dismissed his arrest as "due to
his naughtiness."
The fact that a lawmaker showed no contrition after being the
perpetrator of sexual trafficking of underage girls simply highlights
the challenges faced by Indonesian women's rights movement. The defiant
attitude also exemplifies how many Indonesians deem religious --- read
divine --- laws are somehow higher than state laws, a definite handicap
in any nation that endeavors to establish the rule of law.
In the autonomous province Aceh, which has embraced Islamic Shariah as
normative law, anachronistic regulations against women seem to be in
vogue. Earlier this year, the province's city Lhokseumawe enacted a ban
on female passengers straddling on a motorcycle, mandating sitting
sideways as the proper religious way. In an April raid in the city, 35
women were detained for sitting astride on motorcycles.
More recently, a law was proclaimed to outlaw audible farting by women.
Mayor Sayyid Yahia explained that it was against Islam that a woman
should pass wind in a manner that can be heard by others, as he believed
audible farting was a male behavior. Hence, by farting audibly, a woman
is guilty of impersonating a man.
These clearly sexist regulations are clear setbacks for women's rights
in Aceh and highly ironic considering the region has had significant
history of female leadership in the past.
Aceh has produced Tjoet Nyak Dien, the celebrated 20th century rebel
leader against Dutch colonialism and more importantly Admiral
Malahayati, the first woman sea admiral in world history. On Sept.11,
1599, under Malahayati, the Aceh navy successfully defeated the Dutch in
a sea battle and killed the latter's leader Cornelis de Houtman.
Significantly, this battle saw the full participation of Malahayati's
2,000 strong regiment of Inong Balee, Aceh's women soldiers.
Today, in stark contrast, religion is being used in Aceh to discriminate
against women. It does not help that Islamic religious texts are
interpreted by religious councils comprising exclusively of male clerics.
However, hope remains as more and more intellectual Muslim women are
coming forward to voice their opinions on gender equality. Muslim
feminist Siti Musdah Mulia, and other prominent women with orthodox
Muslim background such as Yenny Wahid, daughter of the late President
Abdurrahman Wahid, will undoubtedly help shape the future of the
struggle for equality between men and women in Indonesia.
Still, the road ahead is arduous, as evident in the recent difficulties
experienced by political parties to fulfill the 30 percent quota of
candidacy for parliament in the 2014 legislative elections.
It would seem, more than a century after its publication in 1911,
Kartini's "Out of Darkness Into Light" is still a pertinent reminder of
unfinished her work, and indeed our work, towards gender equality in
Indonesia. Her frustration with religion in relation to women's rights
is still, regrettably, relevant today. As did their ancestors who
adapted Islam to the local values and customs, today's Muslim feminists
of this country must be the ones to shape the blending of their faith
with the betterment of rights for all women. Happy Kartini Day!
/Johannes Nugroho is a writer and businessman from Surabaya. He can be
contacted at johannes@nonacris.com
/
/* * *
/
*Celebrating Kartini Day With Letters By the Heroine*
*Jakarta Globe* | April 18, 2013
Activists, academics and artists, as well as students and people from
other walks of life will today read Kartini's letters to remember her
ideas that inspired the women's emancipation movement in Indonesia.
Born on April 21, 1879, Raden Ajeng Kartini was a women's rights pioneer
during the Dutch colonial period and an inspiration for women after
independence.
In 1964, she was declared an Indonesian national heroine by President
Sukarno and her birthday was subsequently named Kartini Day, which is
celebrated annually by Indonesian women.
"We read her letters to remind Indonesia that Kartini Day is not about
women and girls wearing kebaya and batik with elaborate hairstyles,
supposedly replicating Kartini's attire," Okky Madasari, an
award-winning novelist and one of the initiators of the event, said on
Wednesday.
"It's about remembering her ideas and what she fought for."
Okky, the founder of the Muara Foundation, and Faiza Mardzoeki, director
of the Purple Institute, joined Kopdar Budaya, a social media community,
and the Ardhanary Institute to hold the event to attract more
Indonesians to read Kartini's letters.
Actresses Ratna Riantiarno and Jajang C. Noer will be among the
prominent women selected to read out the letters at the event.
As the world celebrated International Women's Day on Friday, activists
in Jakarta and Bandung held a rally to raise awareness of the violence,
discrimination and marginalization of women.
In Jakarta, members of 53 local women's groups marched from the Hotel
Indonesia traffic circle to the State Palace.
"In this rally we made eight demands, asking the government to fulfil
its promises to protect women in the form of policies that to this day
remained unrealized," said Luviana, a coordinator of the rally.
Luviana cited the prolonged deliberations of a bill to help eradicate
domestic violence as one example, and also criticized the lack of
representation of women in politics and the lack of protection of women.
Violence against women, she said, was a theme of the rally given several
recent cases of rape on public transportation and cases of
discrimination and harassment of female workers.
"Many companies still discriminate against female workers, particularly
when it comes to pay. The men tend to earn more with benefits while
women are considered to be secondary breadwinners. Pregnancy leave and
menstrual leaves are also problematic with many women not getting to
enjoy those rights," Luviana said.
A discussion on women at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Friday agreed that
women still faced discrimination in Indonesia.
Dian Kartikasari, secretary general of the Indonesian Women's Coalition
(KPI), told participants in the "Women Making Indonesia" seminar that
only 10 percent to 20 percent of government social programs targeted women.
"As a result, women often lose access to education and health care
because the state has arranged for women to be housewives," she said.
While the discussion acknowledged that women had made progress during
the post-Suharto reformation era, with some 90 percent of girls now
graduating from elementary school, Yuli Ismartono, a senior journalist
at Tempo Magazine, said Indonesian women still had a long way to go to
eradicate discrimination.
Shinta Widjaja Kamdani, managing director of Sintesa Group, said
successful women must help other women through education. "It's a pity
that a lot of women are unable to explore themselves because of their
role and their position as a wife. My desire is to encourage more women
to become entrepreneurs," Shinta said.
Friderica Widyasari Dewi, a director at the Indonesia Stock Exchange,
sought to raise awareness among women on the importance of investment.
"Women are responsible for the success of the family. So I have
established a 'Women and Investment' program to educate women from Aceh
to Papua about investment," she said.
Peter F. Gontha, publisher of the Jakarta Globe, said gender equity in
Indonesia was much better than in developed Asian countries such as
Japan. But education in Indonesia was still a concern, he said. "Women
still need to fight for education. Nobody is taking care of education.
We need more NGOs in education," the executive said.
In Bandung, hundreds of women spoke out against domestic violence and
rape, demonstrating in front of the West Java governor's office.
Euis Tita Kurniawan, a rally coordinator, said many female workers were
denied the rights to take maternity leave mandated by law, and received
inferior pay to men. "We want to excel, to be prosperous and to be equal
with men," she said.
* * **
*
*Women Continue Long Battle for Rights in Indonesia*
*Yohannie Linggasari, Dian Manafe & Yuli Krisna * | March 09, 2013
As the world celebrated International Women's Day on Friday, activists
in Jakarta and Bandung held a rally to raise awareness of the violence,
discrimination and marginalization of women.
In Jakarta, members of 53 local women's groups marched from the Hotel
Indonesia traffic circle to the State Palace.
"In this rally we made eight demands, asking the government to fulfil
its promises to protect women in the form of policies that to this day
remained unrealized," said Luviana, a coordinator of the rally.
Luviana cited the prolonged deliberations of a bill to help eradicate
domestic violence as one example, and also criticized the lack of
representation of women in politics and the lack of protection of women.
Violence against women, she said, was a theme of the rally given several
recent cases of rape on public transportation and cases of
discrimination and harassment of female workers.
"Many companies still discriminate against female workers, particularly
when it comes to pay. The men tend to earn more with benefits while
women are considered to be secondary breadwinners. Pregnancy leave and
menstrual leaves are also problematic with many women not getting to
enjoy those rights," Luviana said.
A discussion on women at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Friday agreed that
women still faced discrimination in Indonesia.
Dian Kartikasari, secretary general of the Indonesian Women's Coalition
(KPI), told participants in the "Women Making Indonesia" seminar that
only 10 percent to 20 percent of government social programs targeted women.
"As a result, women often lose access to education and health care
because the state has arranged for women to be housewives," she said.
While the discussion acknowledged that women had made progress during
the post-Suharto reformation era, with some 90 percent of girls now
graduating from elementary school, Yuli Ismartono, a senior journalist
at Tempo Magazine, said Indonesian women still had a long way to go to
eradicate discrimination.
Shinta Widjaja Kamdani, managing director of Sintesa Group, said
successful women must help other women through education. "It's a pity
that a lot of women are unable to explore themselves because of their
role and their position as a wife. My desire is to encourage more women
to become entrepreneurs," Shinta said.
Friderica Widyasari Dewi, a director at the Indonesia Stock Exchange,
sought to raise awareness among women on the importance of investment.
"Women are responsible for the success of the family. So I have
established a 'Women and Investment' program to educate women from Aceh
to Papua about investment," she said.
Peter F. Gontha, publisher of the Jakarta Globe, said gender equity in
Indonesia was much better than in developed Asian countries such as
Japan. But education in Indonesia was still a concern, he said. "Women
still need to fight for education. Nobody is taking care of education.
We need more NGOs in education," the executive said.
In Bandung, hundreds of women spoke out against domestic violence and
rape, demonstrating in front of the West Java governor's office.
Euis Tita Kurniawan, a rally coordinator, said many female workers were
denied the rights to take maternity leave mandated by law, and received
inferior pay to men. "We want to excel, to be prosperous and to be equal
with men," she said.
* * *
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