Indonesia

“Inching toward equality: recent developments in Indonesian Inheritance Law”

Indonesia the largest Muslim country in the world, has witnessed what may be interpreted as a continued Islamisation of its Family Law, including the absorption & subsumption of prevalent practices into a logic of codification and reform according to particular interpretations of Muslim laws. But in the light of the Government’s 1988 Compilation of Islamic law, some limited changes in the inheritance laws favourable to women have taken place. The paper by Cammack examines the intricacies of this process in Indonesia.

“Rural women’s land rights in Java, Indonesia: Strengthened by Family Law, but weakened by land registration”

In Java, Indonesia, only about one-third of land title certificates reflect ownership by women. This lack of registered land ownership can potentially harm women by depriving them of influence within the household and leaving them vulnerable in cases of divorce or a spouse’s death. This Article argues that effective land registration mechanisms and legal and social recognition of women’s property rights all play a critical role in protecting women’s ownership interests.

“Women, land, and labor: negotiating clientage and kinship in a Minangkabau peasant community”

One of the central dynamics shaping agrarian change, and one seldom highlighted, is the structure and ideology of kinship and clientage in peasant communities. This article examines the importance of kin ties in the maintenance of nonwage labor relationships in a wet-rice farming community in West Sumatra, Indonesia. In this village patron-client ties are primarily organized on the basis of matrilineal kin ties through and between women.

"Access to justice for women: The role of religious courts”

This paper discusses the role of Indonesian religious courts in giving access to justice for women. It will analyze the role with the perspective of procedural and substantive justice. The discussion on access to procedural justice encompasses client service, prodeo case, and circuit court, while access to substantive justice will focus on three selected areas: polygamy, divorce and joint marital property.

Indonesia: Government regulation on female circumcision must be repealed

Indonesian authorities must immediately repeal the newly issued government regulation permitting female circumcision (‘sunat perempuan’), and instead enact specific legislation with appropriate penalties prohibiting all forms of female genital mutilation (FGM). The new regulation legitimizes the practice of female genital mutilation and authorizes certain medical professionals, such as doctors, midwives and nurses, to perform it. The new regulation defines this practice as “the act of scratching the skin covering the front of the clitoris, without hurting the clitoris”. The procedure includes “a scratch on the skin covering the front of clitoris (frenulum clitoris) using the head of a single use sterile needle” (Article 4.2 (g)). According to the new regulation, the act of female circumcision can only be conducted with the request and consent of the person circumcised, parents, and/or guardians.

Shadow Report Prepared for the UN Committee against Torture in connection to its review of Indonesia’s Second Periodic Report under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

This report - in consultation with the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) - is structured in a way that will help the Committee as well as other general public to understand the actual practice of torture in Indonesia. It also provides some information on the analysis of the implementation of the Convention by the Government of Indonesia.

“Indonesia: New law in Aceh makes adultery punishable by stoning”

This a call to action and informative post by the Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) international solidarity network and the Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women (SKSW) with regard to a set of regressive new laws introduced in Aceh, Indonesia on 14 September 2009. Indonesia's province of Aceh has passed a new law that imposes severe sentences for consensual extra-marital sexual relations, rape, homosexuality, alcohol consumption and gambling. Previously, Aceh's partially-adopted Sharia law enforced dress codes and mandatory prayers.

Kekerasan Berbasis Gender

This book provides a comparison between the provisions of the Indonesian Law no. 23, year 2004, on Elimination of Violence Against Women in Domestic (household or family) Environment and gender relations according to the Qur’an and Hadith. [in Indonesian]

Memecah Kebisuan: Agama Mendengar Suara Perempuan Korban Kekerasan demi Keadilan (Breaking the Silence: Religions Listen to the Voice of Female Victims of Violence in the Name of Justice)

This work is the result of a collaborative effort between the National Commission for Women (Komnas Perempuan), female scholars, and religious leaders representing Islam, Catholicism, and Protestanism. The aim is to break the monopoly held by men over interpretations of holy books and to challenge the hegemonic patriarchal culture upon which domestic violence is based. The manuscript for Muslims was written by a team affiliated with Muhammadiya; Indonesia’s second largest Muslim organisation.

Referensi bagi Hakim Peradilan Agama tentang Kekerasan dalam Rumah Tangga (Reference for Religious Court Judges on Domestic Violence)

This book’s aim is to encourage ‘alternative’ interpretations to and participate in the enforcement of justice with regards to domestic violence. Chapter 2 discusses the unequal relations between men and women, and gives historical background to the social construction of this inequality. Chapter 3 gives a detailed review of the understandings, causes, and forms of domestic violence. It also discusses domestic violence from an Islamic perspective – i.e. fiqh – and refers to the Qur’an and Hadith in its explanation of a religious view that grants justice for women.