The annulment of the invasive test is excellent news and should set a good precedent for other TNI branches and the National Police that have maintained the practice for decades.

Andika’s move is long overdue progress toward the protection of human rights, women’s rights and gender equality in the Indonesian armed forces. But what would be better than the Army abolishing the virginity test is the unconditional and permanent nationwide ban of the test, as regulated in an official document signed by the President of Indonesia to be honored by all Indonesians.

This is obviously not rocket science. Banning the virginity test is not a difficult decision when we all know what it is and the damage it has caused to Indonesian women and society in general.

The government should immediately ban the virginity test for three reasons. First and foremost, the test is medically unreliable, has no scientific value and has significant negative effects on the “test subjects”.

The procedure, also known blatantly as the “two-finger test”, involves a medical practitioner physically checking the hymen of female recruits to determine whether she has had intercourse. It has long been recognized, however, that the physical state of the hymen offers very little scientific proof of virginity (Josephine McDermott, 2015).

Just like other parts of the human body, the hymen differs in size and form in individuals. Some women have a very thick hymen that remains intact after intercourse. There are also women who are born with no hymen. The hymen may also change due to other factors unrelated to sexual intercourse, including but not limited to sport injury, accidents and even disease.

Back in 2015, Human Rights Watch Indonesia interviewed 11 female TNI applicants and fiancées of TNI personnel who had undergone the test, one female personnel at a military health center and one medical doctor at a military hospital. The interviews confirmed that the female applicants and fiancées who failed the test were not necessarily penalized, but all of them described the test as painful, humiliating and traumatizing.

A 2017 study by Rose McKeon Olson and Claudia García-Moreno that involved 10 electronic databases found three main effects of virginity tests on the examinees: physical, psychological and social.

The physical effects include injury caused by the medical practitioner and the examinee’s family member who administers the test, as well as self-injury if the examinees self-administers the test. The psychological effects include trauma from waiting, undergoing and recalling the test. Finally, the social impacts for examinees who fail the test include bringing shame and dishonor to their families and communities, social exclusion as a result of being labeled unfit for marriage as well as exclusion from job opportunities.

The second reason is because the test, in essence, is institutionalized gender-based violence. It is violence that specifically targets women that is directly ordered by the government, particularly the military and the police.

Although the Human Rights Watch survey found that the female applicants and fiancées who failed the test were not necessarily penalized, their test results did and do harm women’s equal access to job opportunities, even marriage.

Moreover, no similar test is administered to confirm the virginity of male applicants or fiancés. If the military and police think that virginity matters in determining a person’s character, morality, honor and skills to defend our country or to serve our people, then a virginity test should equally apply to men. If there is none, they should invent one.

Last, but definitely not the least, is because the test reveals a general bias toward women’s morality and essentially violates women’s dignity.

In 2015, then-TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Fuad Basya claimed that the virginity test was a matter of national security. That same year, in responding to criticisms of the virginity test, then-TNI chief Gen. Moeldoko said: “So what's the problem? It’s a good thing, so why criticize it?” (Yenni Kwok, 2015).

Both Fuad and Moeldoko are completely mistaken.

Virginity does not define morality. A woman’s ability to differentiate right from wrong does not depend on the tightness of her vagina. Likewise, a woman’s ability to defend her country has nothing to do with her hymen. The hymen is only one part of the vagina, which is only a part of the female body. And the physical body is only part of a woman.

A woman is more than just her body. A woman cannot and should not be diminished to just her body, her hymen or her vagina. Women are human beings and have every right to live in dignity. Female applicants who wish to serve their country by joining the military or police, as well as the women who want to marry men who happen to be in the military or police, should not be subjected to suffering and victimization by the virginity test, an abusive and discriminatory policy crafted by the government.

Of course, banning the virginity test will not solve all human rights or gender issues in Indonesia. Still, it is a concrete step that the government can and must take to protect women’s rights and move closer to achieving gender equality.

At the global level, virginity tests are actually recognized as a violation of human rights. The legal context is Article 16 on the prohibition against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Torture Convention), which Indonesia ratified in 1998, as well as Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Indonesia ratified in 2006.

Andika’s decision to abolish the virginity test is definitely a step in the right direction. He is leading by example, taking the small but important first step to promote gender equality and better protect the rights of the women in his institution.

One final thing that needs addressing is that both the TNI and the National Police owe an apology to all the women who were subjected to the virginity test, whether out of obedience or desperation. The two institutions need to boldly admit their mistake.

There is no shame for leaders in owning up to their mistakes. In fact, leaders will only gain more respect when they acknowledge their mistakes and learn from them.

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The writer is principal analyst in security and women affairs at LAB 45 (Laboratorium Indonesia 2045), an evidence- and data-driven political and economic research institute.