Sex or school? E. Java lawmakers aim to forbid graduation for non-virgins
The city council of Jember, East Java's third largest urban area with a population of 300,000, plans to give a virginity test to schoolgirls, local media reported. Those who fail won't have a chance to become high school graduates.
The city council insists on the regulation on the grounds that a
number of secondary and high school students allegedly indulge in
pre-marital sexual activities. According to the data gathered
from local hospitals, around 10 percent of Jember’s approximately
1,200 HIV/AIDS patients are students.
“What surprises us the most is they have had sex several times
and with different partners,” Habib Isa Mahdi, a lawmaker
from the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura), told Detik.com on
Friday, according to the Jakarta Globe. “Moreover, the
Ministry of Social Affairs said that Indonesia is in an emergency
situation against pornography — that’s what drives us to make
such regulation,” he added.
Also Jember legislature proposes virginity as graduation prerequisite for female students http://t.co/CJu0UNEnPx ht @tunggalp#Indonesia
— Yenni Kwok (@yennikwok) February 6, 2015
A lawmaker from the National Awakening Party (PKB), Mufti Ali,
told East Java news portal BeritaJatim.com he wanted to expand
the proposal beyond Jember for it to become a provincial law.
“If they’re not virgins anymore, don’t let them pass,”
he said. “It may sound like a joke, but it’s serious. It’s
for the sake of the future.
“I agree that virginity should become a [requirement] for
graduation. I will tell my friends to make it a regional
regulation. We can’t only rely on their conscience to behave
well. There should also be pressure. If they’re pushed [to behave
well], that bad behavior can improve.”
The second-largest Muslim organization in Indonesia, the Jember
Chapter of Nadhlatul Ulama (NU), has opposed the proposal.
“Virginity is very sensitive. If a female student cannot meet the
requirement, she’ll be the subject of gossip in society,” MN
Harisuddin, Jember’s policy chief for NU, said on Thursday on the
organization’s official website.
“Say the bill is passed, the test would be simple to conduct,
but why is it only done for the female students? How about the
boys?” he wondered.
The lawmaker Mufti Ali brushed away allegations of the
regulation’s sexism.
“We can’t test the boys,” he told the East Java news
portal. “But at least with the regulation, girls will be
afraid [to have pre-marital sex]. The boys will be prevented from
the act because girls will become unwilling. This will scare
them, that if they [have sex], they will not graduate.”
Mufti said that victims of rape facing the test won't have to be
concerned about the results. “The medical team will be able
to tell [if they have been the victim of a sexual assault],”
he noted.
READ MORE: Indonesia to ban virginity tests for
female civil servants…except police
Indonesia’s police often use virginity tests as a pre-condition
for employing its female officers. The police force in Indonesia
enforces strict requirements for women, who account for only 3
percent of the 400,000 police officers in Indonesia.
In November, Human Rights Watch issued a scathing report saying
that female recruits hoping to join the police force were still
being subjected to the “degrading” ‘two-finger’ test. Many of the
women were made aware of the tests only moments before it was
conducted. Following widespread criticism, local authorities said
in December they planned to ban virginity tests for female civil
servants.
