DPR's Commitment to Sexual Violence Bill Questioned

KOMPAS/ALIF ICHWAN

Women activists invite people at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, Jakarta, during the car free day on Sunday (25/8/2019), to support their action calling on the government to immediately ratify the Bill on the Elimination of Sexual Violence.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - The commitment of the House of Representatives to provide legal protection for victims of sexual violence was questioned after the sexual violence bill could not be approved as a House-initiated bill during the House’s plenary session on Thursday (16/12/2021). The making of the proposed law should be fully monitored so it will not be delayed considering the urgent need to provide a strong legal umbrella in the eradication of the sexual violence.

The approval of the draft law to become a House-initiated bill was not included in the House’s plenary meeting agenda on Thursday, which was the last plenary meeting to be held in 2021. In fact, the House’s Legislative Body (Baleg) had agreed to propose the draft law as a House-initiated bill during the plenary meeting.

The failure to approve the bill as a House-initiated bill sparked protests from a number of parties including within the House. One of them was a member of the National Awakening Party (F-PKB) faction, Luluk Hamidah. “So many people have been waiting for the bill and considered the House had failed and did not have sense of crisis on the urgent need of the bill. Enough is enough. I hoped it could be approved today," he said in a plenary meeting chaired by Muhaimin Iskandar, the House’s deputy speaker representing the F-PKB.

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With the failure to approve the sexual violence bill as a House-initiated bill, it will take even longer for Indonesia to have regulations that can provide justice for victims of sexual violence. According to Law No. 15/2019 concerning law making, after being approved as a House-initiated bill, the bill should be submitted to the government for approval. If it is approved, the House and the government can begin the deliberation of the bill and pass it into law.

House Speaker Puan Maharani emphasized that the approval of the sexual violence bill as a House-initiated bill was only a matter of time. The House only wanted to ensure that the process in the making of the law was in accordance with the existing mechanism so that it would be questioned in the future, she said. Puan promised the approval of the bill as a House-initiated bill could be made during the House’s first plenary meeting in 2022.

Kompas

Screenshot of the Plenary Meeting Decision making on the results of the Drafting of the Bill on the Elimination of Sexual Violence, (TPKS) led by the Chairman of the Legislation Body (Baleg) Supratman Andi Agtas, each faction in the Baleg DPR conveyed their mini views on the results of the drafting of the TPKS Bill on Wednesday (8/12/2021).

The House’s deputy speaker representing the Gerindra Party faction, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, said the sexual violence bill was not included in the plenary session agenda due to technical problems. The meeting of the House’s leaders and the House’s Steering Committee (Bamus), which prepared the plenary meeting agenda, was held before the House’s Legislative Body approved the bill as a House-initiated bill.

The deputy chairman of the Legislative Body representing the NasDem Party faction, Willy Aditya, said the last meeting of the House’s Steering Committee was held on Monday (6/12), or two days before the House’s Legislative Body approved to propose the bill to become a House-initiated bill on Wednesday (8/12).

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According to him, the House’s leaders should actually be able to use the one week from when Legislative Body made its decision to the holding of the plenary session to have a meeting with the Steering Committee to include the proposed approval of the bill into a house-initiated bill into the plenary meeting agenda. "We do not know why such a meeting was not scheduled," he said.

For the sake of victims

A network of defenders of women’s rights and victims of sexual violence pledged to continue to oversee the sexual violence bill. The network, which consists of a number of activists and 140 institutions assisting women and children issues, hoped the House would prioritize the interests of victims of sexual violence over political matters. "At least, the House members should have a conscience about things happening around them," said Megawati from the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (Infid).

The government has also promised to continue to oversee it by establishing a Task Force for the Acceleration of the Formation of the Sexual Violence Bill. The chairman of the task force, who is also the Deputy Law and Human Rights Minister, Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej, in a written statement last week, said the government would continue to work closely with the House and relevant stakeholders to support the formation of the sexual violence bill.

This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi.