WUNRN
INDONESIA - FEMALE GENITAL
MUTILATION PERSISTS DESPITE BAN
Jakarta, 2 September 2010
(IRIN) - Though the Indonesian government banned female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) four years ago,
experts say religious support for the practice is more fervent than ever,
particularly in rural communities.
A lack of regulation since the ban makes it difficult to monitor, but medical
practitioners say FGM/C remains commonplace for women of all ages in this
emerging democracy of 240 million - the world’s largest Muslim nation.
Although not authorized by the Koran, the practice is growing in popularity.
With increased urging of religious leaders, baby girls are now losing the top
or part of their clitoris in the name of faith, sometimes in unsanitary rooms
with tools as crude as scissors.
“We fear if [FGM/C] gets more outspoken support from religious leaders it will
increase even more. We found in our latest research that not only female babies
are being circumcised, but also older women ask for it,” said Artha Budi Susila
Duarsa, a university researcher at
While the procedure in
“Even a small wound on the genitals can lead to sexual, physiological and
physical problems,” Duarsa said.
However, the ban was quickly opposed by the Indonesian Ulema Council, the
highest Islamic advisory body in
In March this year, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Muslim
organization, issued an edict supporting FGM/C, though a leading cleric told
the NU’s estimated 40 million followers “not to cut too much”.
“It is against human rights,” said Maria Ulfah Anshor, a women’s rights
activist and former chair of the women’s wing of the NU. “For women there is
absolutely no benefit and advantage.”
Changing perceptions
FGM/C traditionally existed as a sign of chastity; a symbolic practice
performed by shamans, or local healers, who used crude methods such as rubbing
and scraping.
With shamans largely falling out of favour, the religious are turning to
midwives who rely more on cutting instead.
“Midwives don’t know what they are doing. They were never taught the practice
at school, so they do the same with girls as with boys: they cut,” Anshor said.
During the 32-year Suharto dictatorship, outspoken religious expression was
discouraged, but since his fall in 1998, people started looking for their
religious identity, with stricter interpretations of Islam being adopted by
scores of municipalities.
More Indonesian Muslim women wear a headscarf now, claiming it is more accepted
than it was 15 years ago.
Forbidden, but unregulated
The 2006 ban prohibited FGM/C, but in practice there is no oversight.
|
Despite
the 2006 ban, many mothers opt for the practice |
A midwife at a state hospital in
But when asked to explain the benefits, she declined further comment.
According to
“If there are problems, it is because the practice is not done in a sterile
way,” Duarsa said.
An official standard?
The demand for FGM/C makes it hard to control the practice, said Minister of
Women’s Empowerment Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar.
“That’s why we encourage female circumcision to be medicalized and practiced by
trained health personnel to avoid further harm.”
Gumelar is working with the Ministry of Health to make an unsafe practice
safer, even though it is outlawed and has been condemned by a large number of
treaties and conventions, and ratified by most governments of countries where
FGM/C is present.
The development dismays women’s rights fighter Anshor.
“I would advise not to circumcise your daughters at all,” Anshor said. “If
women are circumcised, people believe they become more beautiful and not as
wild and will make men more excited in bed. For women themselves, they don’t
get any excitement at all.”
It is hard to tell what impact, if any, government action will have on people
like grandmother Dede Jafar, who had never heard of the ban but does not like
it.
“That is so sad because Muslims have to be clean,” she said, sitting outside
her home with her 10-month-old granddaughter who was cut eight months ago.
Jafar noted that every woman in her family has undergone the procedure.
"Even if it is forbidden, we still have to find someone to do it. It is
obligatory. We should always try to find someone to do it for us, because we
have to.”