http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20061222.E02
Women and democracy Opinion and Editorial - December 22, 2006 Dewi Candraningrum, Asienhaus, Germany In traditional Javanese philosophy, the popular advice given to a newly elected leader is: Ojo silap karo harta, tahta, lan wanita (Do not easily be tempted by wealth, power, and women). The advice continues to say that "leaders should serve those whom they lead". This advice evolved from an epistemological construction that women are contested objects. It long marked the thinking of the patriarchal feudal nobles of the Javanese kingdoms. Housing dozens of wives in the keputren (similar to a harem in the Middle East, zenana in India or a playboy mansion in the modern world), and treating them as precious jewels was the prerogative of the prince as the absolute master. How about the laymen? Those outside of the nobility mostly practiced monogamy. Women and men worked together in the rice fields. Compared to the women who were confined to the keputren and were forbidden from entering the public arena, ordinary women were able to move quite freely outside of domestic life. Even traditional Javanese markets were dominated by women vendors. This is still clear from the well-known Klewer textile market in Surakarta, where women vendors prevail. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace laureate who founded the Grameen bank in Bangladesh to help women access micro credits, was speaking the truth when he said that "women are better with money". These women could prove their independent roles within the public arena as well as their ability to serve their families in the domestic arena. One of the Prophet Muhammad's legacies is his view of women as "complete human beings", as opposed to jahiliyah (dark age) Arab society, which regarded women as "semi-human beings". Muhammad's perspective changed the position of women from contested objects to independent subjects. This universal truth is also upheld by the Republic of Indonesia, a state that espouses democracy as a basic philosophy that guarantees the rights of women. The practices of polygamy and nikah siri (unofficial marriage) run counter to the Islamic principles of equality and serving others. These practices further give rise to corruption in the administration of state. The current corruption landscape is characterized by the perspective that women are nothing more than contested objects. "Women" are objectified and equated to sources of temptation, in the same way that temptation attaches to "wealth" and "power". The reciprocal hybridization and interpenetration of the "communal" textual patriarchal interpretation of sharia and the "egocentrism" of modern Western cosmology have been used by corrupt state leaders to justify their violations of the principal of monogamous marriage. They loudly proclaim: "Do not mix private matters with state policy." They are clever indeed. On the one hand, they strongly and loudly demand that their gender-biased interpretations of sharia to regulate how women behave in public be incorporated into state policy, as evident from the issuance of 23 sharia-based ordinances that have robbed women of their rights to participate in the economic sphere and their freedom to choose the way in which they wish to dress. Meanwhile, on the other hand, they loudly denounce women's activists who seek the amendment of the Marriage Law. "Do not deprive us of our basic rights under the Marriage Law. If you want to practice polygamy, ask for our permission beforehand. Don't tell us that you have already married a girl without our prior consent and that of your children. Do not deprive us of our right to choose the way we dress and to participate in economic activities. Do protect us from structural poverty that forces us to sell our bodies. Do protect us from the media who sell our bodies cheaply. Apprehend those who traffic us on the black market. Listen to the more gender-based interpretations of our beloved sharia, which undeniably protects our rights. Listen to the voices of those who are experts on the law who laud the gender-mainstreaming project initiated by the state minister for women's empowerment," the women of Indonesia cry. Are women the scourge of democracy? This is the perspective espoused by our leaders, who regard themselves as our masters. Democracy and demonstrations mean the power of the people, instead of the power of the master. Women have always been strong proponents of democracy. Women shall claim their "guaranteed rights" before the state. I laud the bravery of women's activists who fight against polygamy. We are longing for state leaders who act as servants of the people, servants of the state, servants of the citizens, and who respect our rights. We are crying out for new Muhammads, fighters for gender equality in our poor and predominantly Muslim country. The writer, a lecturer at Surakarta Muhammadiyah University, is the recipient of a DAAD scholarship and is currently pursuing her doctorate, as well as teaching, at the Ethnology Institute at the University of Muenster in Germany. She can be reached at <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
