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Jakarta Post

The logic of discrimination in virginity test

The Prabumulih municipal education office head M

Ahmad Syarif (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, August 29, 2013

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The logic of discrimination in virginity test

T

he Prabumulih municipal education office head M. Rasyid recently announced a controversial plan to conduct a virginity test on female secondary school students in response to rampant practice of casual sex and promiscuity among students.

The plan was quick to trigger public outrage, although it gained support from local politicians, government officials and residents. So even though the idea was eventually scrapped, the logic is still there.

One of the supporters of the test is Hasrul Azwar, the regional vice chairman of the Islamic-based United Development Party. In another part of Indonesia, Zainal Alim, the secretary of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) in Pamekasan, East Java, has gone as far as promoting the virginity test as a binding law for all female students.

Those in favor of the test believe the policy will keep the moral standards in place in the society intact for a long time.

Of course the need to absorb the regional budget is also at play, as happens in other regions, no matter how insignificant and irrational the program is.

The morality and sexuality discourse toward the virginity test is the main cause for concern, since that'€™s where the logic of discrimination lies.

Such an effort to impose moral standards on women is not the first time in Indonesia as many believe that women should act properly in line with certain moral standards.

Previously, the mayor of Lhoksumawe in Aceh had signed a circular to ban women from straddling motorcycles. In Banten the authorities once planned to forbid women from going out after 9 p.m.

There are two major points that we can see from the issues above. First is related with moral and women'€™s protection. Second, all the initiatives came from political elites, including mayors and regional legislative councils.

The issues of youth prostitution and casual sex indeed have shocked Indonesia and therefore have to be addressed accordingly. But the virginity test is an absolute abuse of women'€™s rights. However, it is quite surprising that in the case of the virginity test, Indonesian policymakers tend to blame women for the declining morality.

Policymakers have often hid behind morality to justify their moves as apparent in their rhetoric to propose the virginity test: '€œFor the sake of the students and our future morality'€.

The morality grounds contradict massive reports of corruption and sex gratuity involving the policymakers. Therefore the public has a reason not to believe in the motives behind policies related to morality. The virginity test could be viewed as yet another agenda to legalize discrimination against women.

Indonesian political history has seen rampant political discrimination toward minority groups, ethnic and religious groups. Just a reminder, the 1958 Nationality Law required the Chinese-Indonesian minority to obtain Letter of Proof of Indonesian Citizenship (SKBRI) to access regular basic services provided to citizens.

In 1965, the government stigmatized ex-communists and their offspring by providing them red ID cards to allow government officials to recognize them and exclude them from public posts.

The planned virginity test is very much prone to discrimination. Let'€™s say a student fails the test, what consequences will she have to endure after the state declares her not a virgin?

The unclear agenda of the government is the space where the logic of discrimination lies. First it makes a fine line between Chinese and indigenous people, communists, non-communists and so forth. The same distinction may apply to virgin and non-virgin students.

Virginity as a legal basis of state policies is not something new. Certain government institutions in the country, especially those that adopt militaristic values, take virginity as a compulsory requirement for recruitment for both male and female applicants.

The ugliest form of discrimination occurs when the perpetrator justifies his act on natural order. In regards to virginity, then Garut regent Aceng Fikri divorced his young wife only four days after their marriage because he found out she was not a virgin. In the eyes of the regent, divorce is justified by the natural order.

On the one hand promiscuity and casual sex among youths should be a cause for concern, but virginity tests will not offer any solution. Instead it will spark new problems, if not exacerbate the existing problem.

As many scholars have proposed, promoting sex education, religious teachings and other preventive measures would be more effective to deal with casual sex among students.

More importantly, the virginity test case is a reminder that the fight against state-sponsored discrimination remains a battle that we have yet to win.

The writer is a public relations consultant and chief editor of Islamic journal As-Syiasah.

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