JakartaPost-Apr 13, 2022
The House of Representatives passed a highly anticipated sexual violence bill into law on Tuesday, which provides a comprehensive legal framework for dealing with sexual violence, after nearly a decade of struggle to convince the political elite of the need for more robust forms of protection for survivors. The law secured wide approval from lawmakers and the government in a plenary meeting witnessed by a broad network of women’s rights activists. The sexual violence bill was first formulated in 2014 by the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), informed by the need to address rampant cases of sexual assault reported since the start of the decade. For years, the bill repeatedly failed to be passed due to strong opposition from Islamic political parties, particularly the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which argued that the law would support the legalization of adultery and extramarital sex, as well as endorse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) relations – issues that are still widely shunned. Meanwhile, public appeals to pass the law for the sake of survivors tended to fall on deaf ears. Serious efforts to fast-track the draft legislation only began in earnest this year, as policymakers held meetings that stretched into the weekend to answer an appeal by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in January to pass the bill. Read more at: https://www.
