I

refer to an article entitled '€œJokowi'€™s all-female KPK committee a '€˜sensationalist'€™ move'€, (The Jakarta Post, May 22).

The committee members should be judged solely by their competency and ability to navigate the political and interest groups that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is supposed to supervise.

This is notwithstanding the fact that this all-female team should be a testimony of how far the Indonesian women'€™s movement has come.

In the early days, Indonesia faced a growing nationalism marked by the establishment of nationalist groups spearheaded by a select few.

The first women'€™s congress was held in Yogyakarta and marked the beginning of a more organized women'€™s movement in Indonesia.

This was followed by other congresses in Jakarta (1929), Surabaya (1930), Jakarta (1935) and Bandung (1938).

The fall of the New Order government in 1998 led to a new era of reformasi and decentralization.

According to Komnas Perempuan, since reformasi, many regional bylaws that discriminate heavily against women have been passed.

Modern trends in globalization exacerbate unique challenges for the modern women'€™s movement with gender-based problems such as domestic violence, stereotyping and lack of universal education and medical care.

Indonesian should continue the struggle to eliminate gender inequality and discrimination to ensure a brighter future for Indonesia by emancipating all women to make a contribution at their full potential.

Edward Tay Wee Meng
Singapore