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Watchdog identifies 24 discriminatory bylaws in Yogyakarta
A 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
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span>A 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.
Meanwhile, another 22 bylaws have an indirect impact on minority groups. Setara cited examples such as Yogyakarta Bylaw No. 15/2016 on high school education that it deemed harmful to believers of native faiths and Sleman Regency Bylaw No. 16/2016 on subdistrict apparatus, which allegedly discriminated against the disabled.
The 24 bylaws, according to Setara, violated Law No. 25/2009 on public services and led to the emergence of 77 cases that involved 81 members of minority groups in Yogyakarta, as well as Sleman and Gunung Kidul regencies. The cases mostly concerned discriminatory public services.
“They mostly emerged because of the lack of a clear guarantee for the people’s right to [equally] access public services and the absence of affirmative action,” Ismail said.
Yogyakarta provincial administration secretary Gatot Saptadi welcomed Setara’s research, saying that the administration would reflect on the results and recommendations.
The secretary said he was also open for the possibility of regional leaders revoking regulations deemed discriminatory.
Setara also conducted similar research in Tasikmalaya city, Bogor city and Cianjur regency in West Java, where it identified 91 discriminatory regulations.
Setara further suggested that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration fulfill one of its campaign promises by establishing a central agency that oversees national legislation.
“The government can set up a task force to compile an integrated regional policy index,” Ismail said.
Setara also recommended regional administrations revise discriminatory regulations, restore the affected people’s rights to access quality public services and set up a local law center that allows civil society’s participation in the matter.
