M. Taufiqurrahman – The Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has proposed that the railway law require every train provide a women-only car to prevent sexual harassment of female passengers.

A member of the special committee on the railway law from the PKS faction, Abdul Hakim, said Friday that the measure was needed because of the "inhumane conditions" of most train cars, especially in the greater Jakarta area.

"And those who bear the biggest brunt are pregnant, elderly or working women who use the railway service," Abdul told The Jakarta Post.

He said sexual harassment was a pervasive problem on trains. "Women should be respected and Islam places women in a high position," he said, adding that the party's sole intention with the proposal was to protect female passengers from harassment.

Most electric trains operating in Jakarta already have designated women-only cars, but enforcement of the regulation is nonexistent due to the huge number of passengers and shortages of cars.

"That is why we want to include a special provision on cars for women, so that it will be mandatory and operators that violate it will be punished," Abdul said.

Political factions are currently drawing up a list of provisions for consideration in the bill. A transportation expert was skeptical about the proposal's feasibility, especially on overcrowded trains.

"Such a policy would be best applied outside of rush hours when trains are not being used at full capacity," the chairman of the City Transportation Council, Soetanto Soehodo, told the Post. He said the policy of separating female passengers had not been effective in halting sexual crimes when it was tried out in some countries.

"Protection of female passengers could in fact be done by putting more security guards onboard, and applying severe punishment against those who commit sexual harassment," he said.