2008-03-26 - 3:31 p.m.
Last Sunday afternoon, I went to Blitz Megaplex in Grand Indonesia, Sudirman, Central Jakarta, to watch a poetry performance by the students of CCF (Centre Culturel Francais) at two. My friend Hani takes French lessons at CCF, and she went to meet me there with her landlady Mbak Bina.
Although the show was pretty cool, I'm not going to talk about that here. The three of us were chatting while waiting for the next performance, when suddenly two girls nearby overheard and interrupted our conversation about literature. Noticing their genuine interest, we invited them in. The next thing we knew, there was a brief of casual introduction among each other.
The girls' names were Gita and Rian. The tall, slender Gita is a reporter for a local news magazine and also a part-time translator. (The last thing I could still recall from our conversation was that she was working on Oprah Winfrey's autobiography!) Since she also writes poetry and flash fiction, she was soon lost in an exciting conversation with Hani. Same interest.
Meanwhile, Rian writes short stories and novels like I do. While she and I were discussing Mary Higgins Clark, Hani suddenly asked them about where they lived. Rian said: "Casablanca" (a border between Sudirman and Kuningan).
When Gita said: "Tangerang" (a town outside Jakarta), I couldn't help but shudder. My first reaction was: "I still refuse to visit that town until they will forever stop using that stupid law! "
"Yeah, I know what you mean."
If you're confused, I'll take you back to 2006:
Thanks to Tangerang's stupid law no:8/2008, no women feel safe outside --- especially at night. Why? It is stated that if they're (considered) looking 'suspicious' (and I still wonder just what the hell that means!), they will be deemed as prostitutes and can get arrested. Of course, the hypocrite government claimed that it was just intentionally made to 'protect' women. The worst news I can never forget (and nor even forgive) was what happened on March 2006. A teacher's wife who was just on her way home from work at a dine-in got arrested. Sadly, she was never given a chance to defend herself nor even call her husband at home. At that time, she was two months pregnant.
"We're still fighting for it to be banished for good," admitted Hani, who's also part of KPI (Komisi Perempuan Indonesia - Indonesian Women's Commission). "That's part of huge gender discrimination in our country."
"Yeah, it sucks," Gita agreed. "I have to show them my press ID every night on my way home. But lately, things have been less than strict about that. Maybe it's a good sign that people start thinking how utterly useless and stupid the whole idea is."
I hope so too. Maybe someday, I will be able to visit that town --- without fear nor anger for the obvious injustice, and also MINUS the injustice as well.
The Author
