A NON-GOVERNMENTAL organisation (NGO) has lauded the Indonesian Government for passing the Sexual Violence Crime Bill on Tuesday (April 12) which it describes as a huge milestone and an important day for the Indonesian people especially women and children.
Under this bill, physical abuse of a spouse or non-spouse is punishable by up to 12 years in prison while child and forced marriages are punishable by nine years.
Sexual exploitation is punishable by 15 years while the dissemination of unlicensed pornography is punishable by four years in prison.
“Despite several shortcomings in the Bill, the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) Women’s Division believes it is a big step forward in the goal of eradicating all forms of sexual violence, making it easier to report cases and convictions of sexual violence,” the NGO said in a statement.
“In addition, the Indonesian Government can overcome the opposition of local conservatives and introduce this Bill that has gained public support which also requires great political courage.”
KLSCAH Women’s Division further emphasised that the issue of sexual violence is inescapable in Malaysian society – since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of police cases concerning sexual violence had reached a worrying high.
“Therefore, KLSCAH Women hopes that our Government will follow in our neighbour’s example in actively promoting and improving legislations to solve sexual problems once and for all,” it continued.
“This will allow victims of violence to finally reconcile with their rights and seek the justice that they deserve.”
The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) and civil society groups first proposed the idea of legislation a decade ago and a bill was submitted to the house four years later.
The bill’s passage follows President Joko Widodo’s instruction in January to his government to expedite the legislation, which seeks to make it easier to build cases and secure convictions.
One party in parliament, the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), had objected to the bill, saying it should regulate against extramarital sex and had called for a ban on sexual relations based on what it described as “deviant” sexual orientation. – April 14, 2022
