Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – Social activists have called for intensive efforts from people across the country to curb violence against women, which is often viewed as normal in several communities.
Once each community tackles violence against women, activists say, there will be more opportunity for women to take part both in social and economic development.
Antarini Arna, Oxfam's gender justice lead in Indonesia, said women would continue to suffer from acts of violence unless more people became fully engaged in reducing the crime.
"To reduce violence against women, we should ensure changes in our behavior and attitude both at individual or community level. Many communities still consider violence against women as normal," said Antarini, also known as Rinno, at a discussion in Jakarta recently.
In many areas in the country, social and cultural values justify such violence as normal. "In such situations, winning the support of local people to work as change makers in their own society is crucial to reducing the social and cultural acceptance of violence. Otherwise, we will see more violence in the future," Rinno said when discussing Oxfam's Change Maker program, designed to reduce the acceptance of violence against women.
In its recently published report, the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) recorded that 119,107 cases of violence against women occurred in 2011, in which 95 percent were domestic violence.
As of August this year, 282 regulations issued by various state institutions were discriminative toward women, making it more difficult for them to obtain their rights on economic, social and political issues.
Through its "We Can" campaign, the Change Maker program delivers many different kinds of activity that aims to change attitudes toward violence against women. Merri Djami, director of the Circle of Imagined Society (CIS) Timor, a local NGO that partners with the Oxfam, said a "change maker" was a person who could encourage others to support efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women.
"In the 'We Can' campaign, we encourage all groups of people or communities to play roles as change makers. They can do it by opposing violence in everyday life or encouraging other people to do the same," said Merri.
The campaign was first funded by Oxfam Novib (Netherlands) before Oxfam Australia provided its financial support.
The campaign started in six South Asian countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Oxfam then expanded the campaign to more countries, including Indonesia.
In Indonesia, the campaign is coordinated by Solidaritas Perempuan, a Jakarta-based women's rights NGO, and runs in 32 areas across the country from Aceh to Papua.
In Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), 509 people have joined the Change Maker program. They come from one municipality – Kupang City – and four regencies, namely Atambua, Kupang, Timor Tengah Utara (TTU) and So'e.
Sisca Solokana, the leader of the program in Kupang, said most people who became "change makers" were either former perpetrators of violence against women or victims of the violence.
"They [the perpetrators] committed various violent acts ranging from physical violence to emotional and verbal abuse," she told The Jakarta Post.