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Watchdog identifies 24 discriminatory bylaws in Yogyakarta
Two bylaws directly discriminate against minority groups, while the other 22 bylaws make indirect impacts on members of minority groups.
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Standing for the rights – Yogyakarta resident Z.Siput Lokasari (left), who is of Chinese descent, and Indonesian Son Movement against Discrimination (Granad) head Willy Sebastian show posters written with messages “Please Stop Discrimination” and “Please Obey the Constitution” to protest the discriminatory policy on land ownership in the province. (JP/Bambang Muryanto)
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human rights watchdog, the Setara Institute, has identified 24 bylaws in Yogyakarta that directly and indirectly discriminate against minority groups, including Indonesians of Chinese descent, disabled people, women, followers of native faiths and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
The findings were revealed last week when Setara presented the results of its research on the impact of bylaws on public services that it conducted from September 2018 to May 2019.
“In Yogyakarta, there are two bylaws that have a direct discriminatory impact [on the minority groups],” said Setara Institute executive director Ismail Hasani, who is also a lecturer at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta.
He referred to the Yogyakarta gubernatorial instruction on land ownership and the Bantul regency bylaw on prostitution. He said the bylaws directly affected the target groups.
The gubernatorial instruction bans non-indigenous residents from owning land in the province. As a result, the affected people, especially of Chinese descent, do not enjoy equal service at the National Land Agency (BPN) to get certificates of land ownership.
The Bantul bylaw similarly often targeted women who happened to be out in public because they were mistakenly considered prostitutes.
“Many women on their way home from work at night were arrested because they were considered to be commercial sex workers,” said a local women's activist, Suki Ratnasari.
