Indonesia
Rights group urges govt to apply new sex crime law to address rape of 85 women during unrest in 1998
Andy Yentrieni, chairwoman of the National Commission on Violence against Women. (Photo: the National Commission on Violence against Women)
An Indonesian women’s group has renewed calls by it and other rights groups to provide justice to more than 80 ethnic Chinese women gang-raped during national unrest nearly a quarter of a century ago.
The National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) made the demand on May 15, to mark the 24th anniversary of riots across the country in 1998 calling for the ouster of former president Suharto.
It has made similar demands in recent years but this time around it comes after President Joko Widodo signed into law a bill to combat sex crimes last week.
The new law targets nine forms of sexual violence against women and children: physical assault, non-physical sexual harassment, forced contraception, forced sterilization, forced marriage, sexual torture, sexual exploitation, sexual slavery and circulating sexual content without consent online.
The May 3-15 unrest in 1998 followed a massive political rally in Jakarta that spiraled out of control and saw mobs targeting properties and businesses owned by Chinese-Indonesians.
An estimated 1,500 people were killed and 85 ethnic Chinese women were reportedly gang-raped during the violence.
The commission said the recorded number of gang rapes were virtually all in Jakarta, but the number was likely much higher because victims didn’t report the crimes.
It called on the government to follow up on a report by a joint fact-finding team established by the government, the National Commission of Human Rights and NGOs to probe the unrest.
It also wanted the government to prosecute perpetrators and compensate victims under the new legislation.
Andy Yentrieni, chairwoman of the commission, said the government needs to acknowledge and act on the crimes against the women, who are still psychologically suffering from them.
The government must acknowledge these cases and process them legally, she said.
“Under this law, the victims must be given compensation and proceedings against those responsible must begin to give justice to the victims,” she told UCA News.
Justina Rostiawati, chairwoman of Catholic Women of the Republic of Indonesia backed the call by the women’s commission.
“Many of the victims still face victimization for what they were put through,” she said.
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