WOMEN AND HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER ISLAM University of South Carolina

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WOMEN AND HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER ISLAM University of
South Carolina

• GENDER HUMAN RIGHTS
• IN INDONESIABy Julia Suryakusuma

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Lecture 4

• SEX AND DEMOCRACY
• THE ANTI-PORNOGRAPHY BILL AND
• THE SASTRAWANGI WRITERS

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The RUU APP origins, rationale aims

• The Anti-Pornography and Anti-Pornoaction Bill,
  popularly known as the RUU APP, was originally
  proposed in 1999, has gained strongest support
  from orthodox Muslim groups
• Aim, according to Balkan Kaplale, head of special
  parliamentary committee to formulate the bill to
  prevent moral degradation
• Din Samsuddin, head of Muhamadiyah (modernist
  Muslim mass organization, 29 million members, 2nd
  largest after Nahdlatul Ulama, traditionalist,
  with 40 million members) the country needs a
  pornography law to "reverse the situation" of an
  increasingly liberal society. We are concerned by
  the moral liberalization that will lead the
  nation to the brink of collapse, unless it is
  stopped as soon as possible.

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Problems with RUU APP

• Ambiguous definition of pornography and
  obscenity, could allow multiple interpretations
  and cause confusion and conflict invites
  arbitrary arrests based on personal or political
  interests/considerations
• controversial articles in the law involve
  regulations on public dress and restrictions on
  nudity in the media and art
• Infringes on personal freedoms, limits freedom of
  expression
• Imperils rights of women
• Threaten indigenous traditions and culture,
  threatens pluralism
• Against press freedom
• Scares tourists away

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Effects Reflections

• Generated a huge controversy with demonstrations
  for and against deepened polarizations within
  society
• Reflects our social fragmentation, search for
  identity and hypocrisy
• Reflects persistent debate about the state and
  implementation of Islam. Nothing new, but now
  women are dragged into the argument, and targeted
  in the process
• Reflects machinations of politics no firm stance
  from government, and politicization of religion
  (nothing new)
• Reflects weakness and contradictions of legal
  system
• Wrong end of stick we are an immoral, degenerate
  and hypocritical society, not that pornography,
  never mind the way women dress or behave, cause
  moral degradation

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If bill becomes lawexamples

• women who bare their shoulders or legs or artists
  who include nudity in their work could be
  prosecuted for indecency and could be jailed or
  fined up to 2 billion rupiah (US217,503)
• penalties of up to 12 years in prison and fines
  of up to 2 billion rupiah (S350,500) for simple
  acts as kissing in public and baring of legs or
  shoulders
• Even now artists taken to court for works of art
  recent example of Agus Suwage, depicting a garden
  of Eden scene with live nude models of a well
  known actor and a model Inul dangdut singer
  sensual, girating drill dancing said to be
  pornographic (or porno-action)

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Supporters of RUU APP

• MUI Indonesian Ulama Council
• ICMI (Association of Muslim Scholars)
• Some Islamic parties
• 1. Justice Welfare Party
• 2.
• Conservative Muslim groups Front of Islamic
  Defenders, Hisbut Tahrir, etc
• Proponents of Perda in gthe regions

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Protesters of RUU APP

• From women womens groups
• Limit womens freedom of expression in public
  space
• Criminalise womens behaviour define sexual
  expression outside marriage as obscene (no
  kissing in public or PDA)
• Prohibit exposing sensitive body parts bare
  arms, thighs, breasts, thighs, belly and navel,
  shoulders, legs and hair
• From arts community (artists, writers, designers,
  photographers,
• Criminalization of sexuality in the arts,
  literature and media, literature and media
• Outright prohibition on nudity and ban on
  revealing attire
• From tourism and entertainment industries
• Will inhibit tourism and the entertainment sector
  which provides employment for many people

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Protests(cont)

• From regions
• Bali nudity in certain contexts is an accepted
  part of the island's art and culture. Balinese
  also worry that tourism could be affected by the
  law -- with holidaymakers forbidden from wearing
  revealing swimming outfits. Balinese protesters
  have threatened to seek independence from
  Indonesia if the bill is passed as is.
• Papua there are few cultural prohibitions on
  nudity. Men wear penis sheaths, women grass
  skirts and bare breasts
• Batam tourism plays an important part in the
  island's economy, and the sex industry thrives
  and is mainstay of the economy

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Hardline Islam versus the rest of us

• Others arenas of conflict
• 1. Polygamy
• 2. Domestic violence
• 3. Family values
• 4. Abortion
• 5. Gender equality
• 6. Womens political rights
• 7. Freedom of expression (in the arts, media)
• The above are examples of the ongoing tension
  between hardline Islam and the rest of Indonesian
  society which is more tolerant, liberal
  (permissive even!) which can be seen also in the
  world (I.e., tension between conservative and
  liberal, or just normal!)

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The bigger picture

• What is the RUU APP really?
• 1. An attempt to introduce syariah by stealth
  and reintroduce the Jakarta Charter
• 2. The Anti-Pornography Bill are the local
  syariah regulations writ large
• Tightening the ranks on both sides
• 1. Muslim hardline groups
• 2. Galvanise other members of Indonesian society
  against Islam hardliners womens groups,
  intellectuals, artists, and ethnic and cultural
  group, and even among more tolerant Islamic
  groups/organisations. Creation of Aliansi
  Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, the Unity in Diversity
  Alliance

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State, society, democracy

• The real battle is among civil society groups,
  state just sitting on the fence (not even
  arbitrating or mediating)
• Indonesia society really trying to democratise
  rejects authoritarianism, whether from the state
  or extreme, conservative Muslim groups
• Women targeted, but unwilling to be victims, and
  again become major actors in resisting
  repression from Muslim hardline groups, and of
  claiming their gender and human rights

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The Sastrawangi Writers

• Sastra literature wangi fragrant
• The women writers, who are they? Young,
  30-something, intelligent, creative and
  imaginative women writers who have spearheaded
  literary development since 1998
• MTV generation who cross sectors, of class,
  ethnicity and religion do not bear the
  psychological, political and ideological burdens
  of the New Order
• Explore daring sexual themes (but not just),
  pushing boundaries, questioning, taboo breaking
  even (see Sacred, Mundane, Profane, p. 371 -377)
• Why literature? Literature reflects life and
  society. In Reform Era increased conservatism,
  but also increased openness reflected in among
  others, literature

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Competing Gender Constructions

• Competing gender constructions, related to
  various ideological and political camps
• 1. conservative (hardline Muslims and
  traditional conservatives)
• 2. moderate (mainstream society)
• 3. liberal (artists, writers, activists,
  professionals)
• Gender constructions reflected in the variety of
  literatures that exist
• In Reform Era literature flourishing regional,
  Islamic, community, children, chic-lit, cyber
  literature and more, but spearheaded by young
  women writers

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Sastrawangi controversy

• The sastrawangi writers have grabbed attention
  and generated controversy, even within literary
  circles and other women writers
• Label controversial and loaded with meaning
• Some believe it embodies patriarchal values and
  therefore self deprecating, implying the authors
  are secondary and unintellectual, popular because
  of their looks and sensuality
• Others think they are destroyers of patriarchal
  values
• Sastrawangi label used to advantage by various
  parties (the publishers, media), and by the women
  authors themselves because its commercially
  advantageous

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Women as guardians of morality?

• The subject matter, writing styles and language
  often employed by the sastrawangi writers is
  sometimes shocking
• Depart from common view that women are guardians
  of morality and therefore inappropriate for them
  to be writing explicitly about sex
• Sex considered masculine domain man as subject,
  women as object (to give men pleasure)
• Sastrawangi works reverses this notion women
  become subjects, and relishing it
• Construed by women activists and critics as a
  rebellion against hypocrisy and turning the
  prevailing patriarchal construction of womanhood
  on its head
• Criticism from other women writers excessive and
  self-debasing, indirectly supporting male
  domination

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Other women writers

• Linda Christanty author of Kuda Terbang Maria
  Pinto (The Flying Horse of Maria Pinto),
  political novel, set in East Timor. Unique in
  choice of subject matter. Lindas background as
  journalist and activist is related
• Nukila Amal, Nova Riyanti Yusuf, Hely Tiana Rosa,
  Medy Lukito some of women writers who prefer to
  be just called writer. Still dominated by
  urbanites, with differences based on generation,
  social class, religion and experience
• Women religious writers usually didactic. Also
  booming but not exposed much by media
• Others regional, horror mystical, and women
  writers from the 1970s who are still productive
  today

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Literature reflects life - but not exactly

• The expressive space of literature is the realm
  of imagination and creativity, without
  boundaries, unlike mundane real life
• In theory, literature has a greater democratising
  potential than the political process
• Human rights and gender equality part-and-parcel
  of democracy, and literature provides greater
  opportunities for its expression than in real
  life
• Through literature, women can express themselves
  more freely, and have proven to be vanguard of
  recent literary development in Indonesia
• Detractors many, even among non-Muslim groups,
  but there are no literary police who can put them
  away. The readers (public) vote with their
  wallets, and the sales of the women (sastrawangi)
  writers show clearly they are winning in the race

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Reform Era Literature manifests pluralism

• Indonesian society is pluralist, but gender
  constructions in Indonesia are fragmented
  (reflection of the society), and the Reform
  movement is proceeding at snails pace
• Literature in Reform Era exhibits a true
  pluralism, the hallmark of democracy
• Women are resisting having their gender and human
  rights trampled on in all arenas personal,
  political, social, economic, cultural, legal, but
  the resistance of women in the field of
  literature and the arts in general, is clearly
  winning
• Women writers voicing the collective spirit of
  the people our pain, our wounds, our struggle,
  our search
• Can literature act as vanguard for gender and
  human rights in Indonesia? Not in the short run,
  but acts as a beacon

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Conclusion for Lecture 1 - 4

• Gender (not just women) and human rights under
  Islam in Indonesia is a reflection of the
  political conjuncture the balance of political
  and social forces, and articulated through that
  specific conjuncture
• In the New Order, the state predominated, and set
  the example of the dispensing and control of
  power, which was centralised, authoritarianism,
  and exercised through coercion and force
• Patterns of political behaviour (like any other
  kind of behaviour) is learnt. Non-democratic
  behaviour is the only way we know, not just for
  the 32 years of the New Order, but also before

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Conclusion.

• State and civil society structures can be
  changed, destroyed created, but mind-sets are
  much harder to change
• The values and level of civilization of a society
  can be seen by a number of indicators - one of
  them is the status of women and how women are
  treated
• In all political eras/regimes in Indonesia, women
  not accorded their full rights, as guaranteed by
  the Constitution
• There is also equality for women in Islam, but
  distorted interpretations make it not so (this is
  true for so many other things as well caused by
  misinterpretation of Islam)
• We create our own reality and history. Empowering
  women (education, political awareness, access to
  resources) will give them the ability to struggle
  for their rights, and by gaining them, create a
  better and more democratic society