TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - House of Representative (DPR) Speaker Puan Maharani urged the government to actively guarantee the protection of women, which includes those who are involved in the illegal practice of contract marriages.

This comes after a young Cianjur woman succumbed to her injuries after she was attacked with acid by her middle-eastern contract husband.

“The death of Sarah, a Cianjur woman who was doused with acid by her husband is a tragic reminder of violence committed against women in Indonesia. This is a slap in our faces on how minimal protection for women is,” said the House Speaker on Tuesday, November 23.

According to a report by the Komnas Perempuan or National Commission on Violence Against Women, suggests violence against women are still significantly high with 299,911 reports in 2020 and additional 2,500 cases from January to July this year.

The most frequent form of violence in the data were physical violence, sexual violence, mental and economic abuses. She regrets that contract marriages, especially with foreign nationals, continue to flourish despite many examples showing that women are prone to become victims of violence.

She urged State Ministries to coordinate with other institutions to collectively prevent another tragedy from happening in the future.

House of Representatives members are currently still formulating the Sexual Violence Bill (RU PKS) that has been discussed for nearly a year since it was submitted to the House.

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