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rganizers of One Billion Rising Indonesia have finally secured a public space to hold the Women’s Festival at Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) in Central Jakarta on Saturday.

The festival is expected to draw flocks of Jakartans who have stayed in the capital city during the Easter Holiday.

Dhyta Caturani, one of the activists in One Billion Rising Indonesia, said the Women’s Festival was a part of a series of events to commemorate International Women’s Day and part of the campaign against violence against women.

“It’s important to have many events to draw attention to the campaign so people do not forget about violence against women,” she told The Jakarta Post.

The committee initially planned to hold the event on March 23 in Taman Menteng in Central Jakarta, but failed to secure permission from the heads of the neighborhood and the community units.

“We do not know why they do not give us the permit. A middleman asked us to provide money to obtain the permit,” Dhyta said.

“However, we are against bribery, so we decided to look for another venue.”

Last month, One Billion Rising Indonesia gathered a flash mob of around 300 people to dance at the National Monument (Monas) Park in Central Jakarta as a part of the global movement of solidarity with female victims of violence.

The Women’s Festival will keep visitors entertained from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. with a bazaar, a children’s drawing event, a discussion on men’s involvement in the prevention of women assault and a number of music performances.

“We have 40 free booths for female entrepreneurs who want to sell food or handicrafts,” Dhyta said.

One of the performers in the festival is Rendi Ahmad and Simponi (Earth Dweller Music Syndicate), who composed “Sister in Danger”, a song dedicated to the movement. Lead vocalist Rendi was in Riri Reza’s movie Sang Pemimpi (The Dreamer).

“Friends of One Billion Rising Indonesia will launch their video version of ‘Sister in Danger’ at the festival, which will be uploaded on YouTube,” Simponi manager Berkah Gamulya told the Post.

“Activists in Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea have also showed interest in the song.”

Formed by local musicians and activists in 2010, Simponi has been voicing anticorruption messages and expounding the danger of global warming in schools and universities through performances and discussions.

This year the group is doing another roadshow to reach out to youngsters about the dangers of violence against women.

They had five schools on their schedule for March.

The group began to compose “Sister in Danger” when they learned about the case of RI, the 11-year-old who was repeatedly raped by her father and eventually passed away early this year.

“The notorious gang rape in India late last year opened our eyes, but it was the sexual assault of RI that shocked us,” Gamulya said.

“We are still sad and annoyed to learn about the violence that happens every day.”

Schools and universities can invite Simponi to discuss violence against women and have a musical performance for free.

They are also willing to perform outside the capital city as long as they have invitations from at least three schools.

“We only need your time, a hall, a simple sound system and at least 100 students,” Gamulya said.

The group relies on their own savings, public donations, sales of their CDs and support from the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) to fund their shows.