Jakarta – Women's rights activists said the Constitutional Court's decision to refuse to repeal the widely criticized pornography law was a blatant example of gender bias in Indonesia's legal system.
Kemala Chandra Kirana, an expert on women's rights, said the two laws could be used to curb women's basic rights.
"These laws carry a sort of a preemptive strike against women," said Kemala, who is also the former head of the National Commission on Violence Against Women, at a disscussion organized by the University of Indonesia on Tuesday.
The discussion was also attended by activists from the Solidarity for Women, the Apik Legal Aid Institute, the Journalist Alliance for Diversity, the Foundations of Indonesian Legal Aid Institutes and the Indonesian Women's Coalition.
The meeting aimed to raise awareness on gender equality and also to discuss the court's ruling within the perspectives of women's rights and pluralism.
"The court is not neutral and has no sense of gender equality," Kemala said, adding that the rulings highlighted the fact that most state officials had a very limited perspective of gender and pluralism.
Up to 30 indigenous women from different provinces in Indonesia attended the discussion. They objected to the pornography law because it could hamper their freedom. Women activists have repeatedly said the law criminalized women and should be revoked.
Only one of nine justices in the court, Maria Farida Indrati, objected to the ruling. (She also happens to be a woman.)
The discussion also called on the media to foster gender equality in the country because of its crucial role as the fourth estate in shaping public opinion.
"Nowadays the media fails to side with pluralism and gender equality because there are other interests in the mechanism that work against exposing more on these issues," said Nugroho Dewanto from Tempo, adding that gender equality and pluralism were parts of democratic thinking.
Women activists have repeatedly said the pornography law criminalized women and should be revoked.