Gemma Holliani Cahya and Ghina Ghaliya, Jakarta – Activists and victims supporting the sexual violence eradication bill (RUU PKS) have stepped up their online campaign to push for the bill's passage after the House of Representatives announced yet another delay in the deliberation of the draft that has been in limbo for about four years.
The hashtag #SahkanRUUPKS (pass the sexual violence eradication bill) is trending on Twitter and has taken over discussions on social media since Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Marwan Dasopang, the deputy chairman of House Commission VIII, which oversees social affairs, said there was a plan to exclude the bill from the priority list, because its deliberation was "too complicated".
The plan became official on Wednesday, as the coordination meeting of the House Legislation Body decided to exclude the bill from the priority list.
Marwan said lawmakers were still divided over the bill, just like in the previous sitting period. Therefore, the commission needed more time to lobby the leaders of party factions at the House.
To meet the House's target, Marwan said, the commission must pass the bills on its priority list by October 2020. "However, it still a long way for the sexual violence bill, as we need to hold many hearings with members of the public. We wouldn't make it by October," he said.
Marwan went on to say that the commission would propose the bill again for the 2021 priority list, citing it was still on the House's list of unfinished bills.
The decision has angered women's rights activists and sexual abuse victims who have been fighting for years for the bill.
"You know what's hard? Healing from trauma of being a victim of sexual assault. #SahkanRUUPKS," the user of Twitter account @NurulDwiAstari tweeted on Wednesday. Nurul used the hashtag #SahkanRUUPKS (pass the sexual violence eradication bill) along with thousands of people on social media to criticize the House's decision.
Under the current law, victims of sexual abuse in Indonesia are not entitled to any help from the government. They have to use their own money if they want to go through legal proceedings or rehabilitation. Therefore, the bill, is pivotal for the victim's protection and well-being.
"This data is not a joke. Women lives matter. There is no exception. #SahkanRUUPKS," Twitter user @aisyahirr said on Twitter, attaching gruesome statistics on sexual violence in Indonesia recorded by The National Commission for Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan). The data show that the recorded cases of violence against women has increased from 348,446 in 2017 to 406,178 in 2018 and 431,471 in 2019.
The Legal Aid Foundation of the Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (LBH APIK) found that fewer than 5 percent of the recorded sexual violence cases have been legally processed.
Organizations with the Coalition for Safe Public Spaces (KRPA), which is part of the RUU PKS campaign team, created memes and videos to protest the House's decision.
"Data on sexual violence are available everywhere, there is an increasing in sexual violence; are the House members not embarrassed to say that it's 'difficult' to the victims?" reads one of the memes by the KRPA.
PerEMPUan founder Rika Rosvianti, a member of the KRPA coalition said she hoped the campaign could raise awareness on the fact that the fight for the bill has been going on for years.
"This decision made by the House is insensitive. [...] The sexual violence issue must be a priority right now, because during the COVID-19 pandemic, sexual violence victims become more vulnerable during quarantine," Rika told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
On Wednesday afternoon, the House of Representatives Instagram presence @dpr-ri was showing a livestreamed online press conference of the House's rejection of Israel's move to annex part of Palestine. However, during the livestream, the account was flooded with messages and comments from activists and survivors of sexual violence.
Hundreds of the messages using the hashtag #SahkanRUUPKS spammed the House's Instagram account, demanding the members focus first on what is happening in the country and seriously fight for the rights of victims of sexual violence.