Also read my previous post about Stupid Leader and Stupid Policy
Scores of women and children wearing colorful miniskirts and tight
leggings gathered in central Jakarta on Sunday, outraged by a public
official's comments that provocatively dressed women are to blame for
sexual assaults.
The protest was in response to remarks by the Indonesian capital
city's governor Fauzi Bowo, who said on Friday that women must not
wear revealing clothes to avoid being raped or victimized.
He quickly apologized, but his comments were publicized widely via
local media and Twitter.
The rally called on police and the Indonesian government to do more to
protect women and help the victims of sexual assault.
Women carried placards saying "Don't tell us how to dress, tell them
not to rape," and "My body is not porn, instead it's your dirty mind."
"Public officials should remain silent rather than making
discriminatory statements against women. They are supposed to be
sensitive and it is their job to find real solution to violence
against women," said Tunggal Prawestu, a spokeswoman for the event
organizers.
Earlier this month a woman was gang-raped in a minivan, a widely used
type of public transport, late at night. According to data from
Indonesia's National Commission for Women's Affairs, there have been
more than 100,000 cases of violence against women so far this year, of
which almost 4 percent were rape cases.
This year, cities around the world have seen 'SlutWalk' rallies,
mainly-female protests against sexual violence.
While most Indonesians practice a moderate form of Islam,
fundamentalists have been pushing hard to impose stricter Islamic
laws. In 2008, an anti-pornography law was passed to ban public
displays of nudity and "behavior that could incite lust."
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