Analysis | Indonesia’s ‘family resilience’ push by lawmakers ridiculed by women and activists
- Islamic-based parties have initiated a bill that would force married women to not work, ‘rehabilitate’ LGBT individuals, and jail sperm and egg donors
- Another politician proposed a decree requiring rich Indonesian men to marry poor women in a bid to reduce poverty
The senior government minister who proposed the decree on marriage said it could be a way to reduce poverty. About 100 million Indonesians live on less than US$2 a day, in a country rich in natural resources but dragged down by endemic corruption.
Then there was a claim by a commissioner from the Indonesian Child Protection Agency, Sitti Hikmawatty, that women were at risk of being impregnated by swimming in public and private pools due to “strong sperm” in the chemically treated water – despite no pregnancies being reported from this theory or incidents of men ejaculating in swimming pools.
She was later forced to apologise.
Some of the protagonists of this campaign are members of Islamic-based political parties aiming for greater influence in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and secular country that despite having more than 190 million Muslims, also has prominent minority Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Confucianists and those who practise traditional Indonesian religious beliefs.
