My friend and I began discussing this last week, and we agree that it is a strange situation. But what annoys me most is that the authorities have been blaming it on the victims, saying that they should have dressed in a way that covered up more of their body because what women wear can trigger people to rape them.
The girl who was raped in an angkot recently wasn’t wearing anything revealing. But even if she had been, that wouldn’t have made it her fault. It isn’t illegal to wear shorts or mini skirts, but it is illegal to sexually assault someone.
I do believe that women should wear appropriate clothing, but rape is barely about sex – it’s about power. Some people who feel inferior feel that they gain power by acting aggressively towards others.
In Saudi Arabia, women wear clothes that cover their whole bodies, and sexual assault is still a major problem. On the other hand, in Singapore — where women walk around with skimpy clothing, showing their legs and the curves of their bodies — they don’t seem to have a big problem with sexual assault.
This has nothing to do with clothing. It’s just the donkey mentality that some Indonesians have which triggers them to sexually assault someone.
I think the reaction by the government is embarrassing. I’m ashamed that the authorities in this country could blame it on the victims.
Women have been attacked and they tell women to change the way they dress? OK, that can be taken into consideration, but what are they going to do about the men? Nothing about them should be changed? I find this ridiculous and insulting.
The more conservative this country becomes, the more hypocritical people are. Something isn’t working properly. There is a glitch in our system.
Indonesians work hard to make this country a “religious” nation. We ban pornography, we protest when a porn star wants to visit the country, we try to project this “holy” image. It’s all good in theory, but our citizens don’t seem to have the mindset to support it, because people are hypocritical.
Rather than trying to project this fake image of ourselves, our government, and our country, can’t we fix the country from the inside first? Educate our people about respect. Look within and be honest about what we see, because right now, if Indonesia was a book, the cover wouldn’t match the story inside.
We may appear religious and conservative, but if we have no respect for other people, then this conservativeness and religiousness is all a front. If we strive to make Indonesia the great place we want it to be with kind, generous, religious people, we need to start learning how to respect each other.
Stop commenting about trashy clothes. Your morals can be trashy too. Let’s turn the trashy to classy (thejakartaglobe.com)
:.
