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Komnas Perempuan scraps criteria for commissioners
The selection committee for National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) commissioners has scrapped age and education requirements in a bid to diversify candidates
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span>The selection committee for National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) commissioners has scrapped age and education requirements in a bid to diversify candidates.
Previous selection criteria required candidates to be at least 35 years of age and to hold a bachelor’s degree. These requirements no longer apply.
Selection committee head Usman Hamid, who is also the director of Amnesty International Indonesia, said the removal was an affirmative action to reach out to aspiring female candidates in local communities.
“The candidates may have not graduated from elementary school, but they could be fighting for women’s rights in their communities. The removal of age and education requirements is positive progress,” Usman told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Registration to apply to be a commissioner opened on May 25 and closes on July 31.
Candidates are required to have at least 10 years of experience in the field of human rights and possess knowledge of gender issues and laws concerning violence and discrimination against women. They also must not have a track record of corruption or violence, including polygamy and polyandry, Usman said.
Selected candidates will go through a series of tests and the final list of commissioners will be announced in December — when the four-year term of the current Komnas Perempuan commissioners will end. The list may comprise between 15 and 21 commissioners, as stipulated in the 2005 presidential regulation on Komnas Perempuan.
Aside from Usman, the selection committee consists of Kamala Chandrakirana, a former secretary-general of Komnas Perempuan; Miryam Nainggolan, head of the supervisory board of trauma-counseling foundation Yayasan Pulih; Mamik Sri Supatmi, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia and founder of legal aid institute for women LPBHP Sarasvati, and Ahmad Junaidi, director of the Journalist Association for Diversity (SEJUK).
Usman said the committee expected to scout candidates of five different backgrounds; religious figures, academics, community figures, millennials and law experts.
“We have not received many applicants, although there are some who have consulted with us regarding the requirements,” he said, adding that the committee would visit several parts of the country to approach potential candidates.
The committee has set sights on potential candidates from the Dayak community in East Kalimantan and among women activists in Palu, Central Sulawesi.
“We have visited Palu because of our concern toward women in conflict zones and disaster-stricken regions. We met a female figure there, who is also a lawyer, who has been managing women-friendly refugee camps,” Usman said.
A 7.5-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami hit Palu in September last year, killing more than 2,200 people and displacing more than 220,000. The city is also located near Poso regency, which is infamous for its sectarian conflict.
“We will also be visiting Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, because the rate of violence against women there is high. The city is also one of the poorest and most corrupt regions, so women are prone to becoming victims of human trafficking there. We believe that there must be local figures, including priests, who can help solve similar problems at the national-level,” Usman said.
Muslim intellectual and women’s rights activist Siti Musdah Mulia lauded the changes, expressing hopes that the new commissioners could not only act on but also prevent violence against women.
“Komnas Perempuan should not remain as firefighters who only put out the fire after the incidents take place, but more importantly, it should prevent violence from happening by educating the people and advocating women’s rights,” she said.
The commission should advocate the rights of women as “autonomous citizens” who should be treated equally regardless of their beliefs or backgrounds, she said.
“When women are treated as citizens, there won’t be any more discrimination and persecution against women of minority groups, such as what happened to Meiliana,” Musdah added, referring to a Buddhist woman of Chinese-descent who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for complaining about the volume of the adzan (call to prayer) in Tanjungbalai, North Sumatra, in 2016.
