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<http://www.eurasianet.org/resource/uzbekistan/hype
rmail/200205/0016.shtml>.Svetlana PeshkovaIndonesiaSince the beginning of the twentieth century
Indonesian women have been voicing their protest
at conditions they considered oppressive. Indonesia
is the country with the largest Muslim population
in the world: 90 percent of its 210 million inhabi-
tants adhere to Islam, so much of women’s protest
was articulated in terms of Islamic teachings and
practices. This multiethnic country has many local
traditions in which male dominance is entrenched.
As well as Islam, which entered the archipelago in
the thirteenth century, Dutch colonialism and post-
colonial nationalism are the other major forces that
affect women’s subordination. Patriarchal struc-
tures are most strongly encountered in family rela-
tions. The struggle against polygyny has been one
of the central elements in the Indonesian women’s
movement.Historical overview
In various regions women wielded considerable
political, social, and economic power. The Muslim
realms of the Moluccas and Aceh were once ruled
by queens. Women also led in wars or served as sol-
diers. When, by the beginning of the seventeenth
century, the Dutch consolidated their colonial pres-
ence, they strengthened patriarchal and feudal
structures. Only the titled and other elite males had
access to political and economic power (Onghok-
ham 2003). Racial politics were also introduced.
The Muslim population fell under patriarchal
Islamic laws, while customary law was applied to
the non-Muslim native population. This legal dual-
ism was perpetuated after independence in 1945.636 political-social movements: protest movements
At that time there was some support for the idea of
using Islamic law as the foundation of the nation,
but for the sake of pluralism this was rejected; how-
ever, some groups still favor it.
The first Indonesian modern feminist was Princess
Raden Adjeng Kartini, who died during childbirth
in 1904. Her passionate and brilliant letters became
an inspiration for women all over Indonesia as well
as abroad. She struggled against polygyny, forced
marriages, feudal customs oppressive to women,
and colonial injustice and also advocated women’s
education. In the pre-independence period, women’s
struggles concentrated on these areas, as well as
trafficking of women and children, the rights of
women laborers, and political rights (Suryochon-
dro 1984, Wieringa 2002). The first women’s
schools were set up in the first decades of the cen-
tury by such prominent leaders as Dewi Sartika
in Bandung and Rahmah El Yunusiah in Western
Sumatra. The Muslim women’s organization Ais-
yiyah also set up schools for girls in this period. By
1930 the colonial government prohibited schools
set up outside its jurisdiction, as it feared such
schools might instill nationalist sentiments. Women
were very active in the protest movement that
followed.
In 1938 the colonial government granted white
women both active and passive political rights, but
Indonesian women only passive rights. The Indo-
nesian women’s organizations strongly resisted,
arguing that in several regions in precolonial times
they had also been able to stand for election. Women
played an active role both in the armed resistance
against the Dutch in colonial times, and in the war
for national independence after the Japanese defeat
of 1945.
During the Old Order period (1945–65) of Indo-
nesia’s first president, Sukarno, the Indonesian
women’s movement was at its strongest. The most
prominent women’s organization at that time was
the communist-oriented Gerwani, which fought for
women’s social and political rights, for instance for
women’s land rights. This militant organization
was associated with sexual perversions by the mili-
tary who, under the leadership of General Suharto,
took over from President Sukarno after one of the
most bloody massacres of modern history (Wieringa
2002). The New Order regime (1967–98) was char-
acterized by the muting of all democratic forces,
including women fighting for their rights. Right-
wing women’s organizations, including Christian
and Muslim groups, rallied against their socialist
counterparts. Muslim women’s organizations even
took over the school that had been set up by
Gerwani (Baidlowi 1993). The military regime set