Government and the NGO sector are working to change attitudes towards violence against women
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Michele Ford
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Campaigning against domestic violenceKabar Keluarga |
The Indonesian government has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to violence against women. Yet, as in many other parts of the world, what goes on in the home is still generally considered to be a private matter. There is no doubt that domestic violence remains a serious social problem in Indonesia, where close to 150,000 cases of violence against women were recorded in 2009. The number of domestic violence cases reported in that year was more than two and a half times that of the preceding 12 months. Ninety-six per cent of these were cases of violence by husbands against wives.
The dramatic increase in reported cases suggests that an increasing number of women are no longer prepared to accept violence against them and are finding the courage to reach out for help. Sadly, however, experts have estimated that just one in ten cases of domestic violence is reported, meaning that as many as nine times more suffer in silence. The articles in this cluster delve into the reasons reported by men as to why domestic violence occurs in different parts of the archipelago. Pam Nilan’s article draws on evidence from the Minang-Malay town of Pekanbaru in Sumatra and the Bugis town of Makassar in Sulawesi. Rachmad Hidayat describes domestic violence in
