Anita Rachman – Family courts must be set up in Indonesia to strengthen legal protection measures for women suffering domestic abuse or simply embroiled in domestic problems, according to top officials from a number of nongovernmental organizations on Wednesday.

Estu Rakhmi Fanani, director of the Women's Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Apik), said the foundation, together with the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) and a number of other organizations focused on women issues, were considering the possibility of officially asking the government to consider setting up family courts, which not only focused on family law, including issues like custody of children, but also on domestic violence.

Divorces are currently dealt with by religious courts. "Civil suits are filed if a couple wants a divorce. What happens if the divorce stems from domestic abuse? The abuse is not dealt with legally, just the matter of divorce. A divorce is not punishment. A family court is needed to deal with both matters," Estu said.

Nursjahbani Katjasungkana, a noted legal expert and chairwoman of the board of patrons with LBH Apik, said the court's principles of a fast, cheap and a fair trial still did not encompass women's domestic issues.

"We need a family court. It will integrate elements of criminal and civil courts. The courts today that separate criminal trials and civil trials neglect women's rights," she said.

Nursjahbani said other countries normally had family courts, such as Australia, Japan, Britain and the United States.

"We are currently still focusing on discourse through seminars on the issue of family courts," she said.

"Some judges in the Supreme Court have welcomed the idea. But of course we need to undergo a political process to set up a new law."

Estu said a family court was also needed to help women deal with public perceptions.

She emphasized there were many women who resorted to civil courts and silently "forgot" about their abuse over fears of being publicly stigmatized.

It is common knowledge that many wives choose not to send their husbands to jail due to fears of earning a negative reputation for doing so from neighbors, friends and possibly even their own children.

In 2009, LBH Apik received 1,058 complaints, including of spousal abuse, rape and sexual harassment.

Only 258 complaints were successfully dealt with legally mainly because they requested legal assistance.

"Only a tiny portion of the total complainants want real solutions," Estu said.

"Separate court systems [criminal and civil] will not teach a lesson to perpetrators of domestic violence," she said.