James Balowski, Jakarta
One thousand people from the Indonesian capital and the satellite cities of Bogor, Bekasi and Tangerang commemorated International Women's Day (IWD) with a march from the Hotel Indonesia roundabout to the offices of the coordinating minister for politics and security and the coordinating minister for people's welfare, before ending at the Presidential Palace.
In addition to women workers, hundreds of farmers from Cijeruk, Tangerang and Karawang and victims of recent land evictions in Jakarta participated in the IWD rally and march.
The coordinators of the Jakarta IWD event — labour and women's rights activist Dita Sari and Raihana Diani, chairperson of the Acehnese Democratic Women's Organisation (ORPAD) — told the marchers that the most important issues facing Indonesian women today are the need to gain free health care, particularly for women and children; a guarantee of full wages for working women when they take menstrual or maternity leave; establishing free and safe abortion clinics; and establishing day care centres for children.
Parliamentary elections are to be held on April 5 and this was reflected in the rallies this year.
At an IWD rally in the central Java city of Yogyakarta, members of the Struggle Committee for the Liberation of Women accused the parliamentary political parties of not fighting for women's rights. They also condemned violence against women in Aceh and West Papua and the rampant trafficking of women and children.
In the first four months of the post-May 19 Indonesian military offensive against the Acehnese independence movement, at least 100 women were raped by soldiers, according to human rights organisations. Since then intimidation by the military has forced most Acehnese human rights activists to flee in fear for their lives and it has been impossible to accurately monitor ongoing violations of human rights in Aceh.
Women constitute only 10% of the members of the Indonesian parliament. In February 2003, the parliament passed a law recommending that 30% of each contesting party's candidates in the 2004 elections be women.
In Semarang, in Central Java, members of the Indonesian Women's Coalition which is made up of the National Student League for Democracy (LMND), the Muslim Student United Action Front and New Indonesian Communist Party, rallied in the centre of the city calling for the quota of women legislative candidates to be raised to 50%. They noted that none of the political parties had seriously tried to fulfil the 30% quota. They called for regulations and laws which discriminate against women to be annulled.
In Surabaya, in East Java, students from the Poor People's Front for Struggle and the National Students Front demonstrated at the governor's offices where they called on the people to unite to condemn the government because of its failure to provide prosperity and security for mothers and children. They also said the elections would not overcome the oppression of women.
The spokesperson for the action, Rudi Asiko, said that in commemorating IWD, it was hoped that women will rise up to resist the neoliberal economic policies and militarism of the President Megawati Sukarnoputri's government because they are hurting women severely.
National Students Front (FMN) spokesperson Sakir said the government had failed to reduce the number of maternal deaths, which still stands at 45 per 1000 births with 15,700 women dying during labour each year. He also quoted International Labour Organisation data which reveals that 30% of Indonesia's 650,000 prostitutes are minors. "Violence against women is also rampant. About 85% of the victims of sexual harassment are underage women", Sakir said.
In Palu, in Central Sulawesi, women's rights activists, students, housewives and sex workers held a demonstration at the city's main shopping centre. The action coordinator, Eko Arianto from the Peoples Democratic Party, called "on the state to provide guarantees to women workers and that they be paid wages in accordance with what they produce and the time they work, rather than being paid like part-time workers."
From Green Left Weekly, March 17, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.