H

ealth Minister Nila Moeloek has expressed dismay over the virginity test performed on female police cadets, suggesting that virginity does not reflect a woman'€™s ability to perform her duty.

'€œWill that [lack of virginity] hinder their career? That is my question,'€ she said on Friday.

Nila, a professor at the University of Indonesia'€™s medical school, also raised doubts over the police'€™s method of assessing the cadet'€™s virginity, which is solely based on the rupture of the hymen.

'€œIt can be caused by accidents, rape or physical trauma. If so, does this mean that she can'€™t [become a policewoman]? I believe that it is a woman'€™s right,'€ she said.

Despite the concerns, Nila said that the ministry had no plan to request clarification from the National Police.

'€œI will let them [the police] explain because they are the ones who made the regulation. I don'€™t know the objective of the test,'€ Nila said.

Irawati Harsono, a retired policewoman and lecturer at the Graduate School of Police Sciences in Jakarta, has set up an online petition on change.org, urging National Police chief Gen. Sutarman to end the virginity test.

'€œThe virginity test is not a relevant indicator to measure the morality of the policewomen. Many policewomen consider the test degrading and it violates women'€™s rights. Virginity is a personal matter,'€ said Irawati, a former commissioner of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan).

Responding to the uproar over the virginity test, the National Police maintained the genital examination, which is conducted on both male and female cadets, was mainly aimed at detecting serious genital defects, tumors and sexually transmitted disease.

'€œWe only check for defects and infections. We need to ensure that they are fit enough to take part in the police training [...] the examination is also done with consent from the cadets,'€ the police'€™s medical and health center head, Brig. Gen. Arthur Tampi, told a press conference in Jakarta.

Arthur, however, acknowledged that problems with the hymen could impact a cadet'€™s health assessment score.

'€œ[A candidate], whose hymen is not intact, will not necessarily be scrapped from the selection process. But it would be factored in to the overall score,'€ he said.

It is not the first time that a virginity test has drawn criticism. Last year, the Prabumulih administration planned to force high school girls to take a virginity test in a bid to discourage promiscuity among students.