T

he National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) says 20 women suffer sexual violence each day, noting that rape is the most frequent violation against women in Indonesia, with 50 percent of the total 93,960 cases.

Other violence includes sexual trafficking, sexual harassment, torture and exploitation.

That number is part of the 400,939 cases of violence against women, including forced marriage, that the commission recorded over the last 13 years.

Commission deputy chair Masruchah told reporters on Thursday that 70,115 sexual violations against women were committed by relatives, including fathers, brothers or grandfathers; 22,284 by public figures such as teachers, state officials, or religious leaders; and 1,561 by state apparatus, such as the police.

“Those are only the cases that are reported to us. I am sure that the number is even bigger when it includes cases that are yet to be reported,” she said.

She added that victims of sexual violence were less likely to report their cases due to social and cultural perspectives judging them as the “cause” of the violence.

West Aceh Regent Ramli Mansur and Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo’s responses in this vein might represent wider judgment blaming victims for stimulating sexual violence against them.

Ramli Mansur made national headlines in 2009 when he suggested that it was alright to rape a woman who wore tight pants.

Two years later, Governor Fauzi Bowo was heavily criticized for blaming victims of rape when he responded to the spike of rapes in the city, suggesting that women not wear miniskirts when riding public transportation vehicles to avoid “any unwanted consequences” because it could “arouse male drivers and passengers”.

R.S., a 27-year-old woman, was raped by four men inside an M24 minivan plying the Srengseng-Kebon Jeruk route in West Jakarta on Sept. 1.

Another gang-rape occurred in a public minivan in Jakarta in early September when a Bina Nusantara University student, Livia Pavita Soelistio, was assaulted and eventually killed.

Masruchah of Komnas Perempuan added that law enforcers’ “insensitivity” in investigating sexual violence was another factor that kept victims or their relatives from pursuing their cases.

“Investigators will usually ask victims to tell them how the crime occurred or require physical proof. How can you ask someone who was just raped to tell the story or to prove it? Those sorts of requirements humiliate the victims more while they are already humiliated enough by being raped,” she said.

Parents of girls allegedly molested by their 72-year-old Koran recital teacher at Ibtidaiyah Al Marfuah Islamic school in Kebon Bawang, North Jakarta, in April this year, for example, chose to drop their complaints because they were “annoyed” with the investigation, as the officers had been asking the girls personal and irrelevant questions such as the physical shape of the perpetrator or to demonstrate how the assaults happened.

Komnas Perempuan thus proposed additional female police officers be recruited to handle sexual assault cases involving female victims with the hope that they would be more “sensitive” and “know better how to deal with the victims”.

Saur Tumiur Situmorang, a commissioner at Komnas Perempuan, said that the reluctance of victims to reveal their cases had hindered legal advocates from helping them.

“Additionally, our existing law has yet to guarantee the rights of the victims. Take for example the 130 cases of sexual violations committed by state workers or officials in Papua, of which none went to trial,” she said.

She added that some institutions had intentionally protected their members who committed sexual violations.

To commemorate Anti-violence Against Women Day, which falls on Nov. 25 every year, the commission is collaborating with 49 organizations from 21 provinces to organize a 16-day campaign to educate and help the public recognize and handle violence against women.

Komnas Perempuan commissioner for public participation Andy Yetruyani said that education about violations against women was important for all people. (msa)