Murder and Femicide from A Legal Perspective in Indonesia

Emanuella Malonda

Murder and Femicide in Indonesia

Feminist Society Indonesia — Nowadays, there has been a lot of news about murder cases that have attracted public attention; interestingly, most of the victims of these murder cases are women. This is certainly closely related to the study of femicide. Therefore, it is necessary to have a basic explanation regarding murder and femicide.

Murder can literally be interpreted as a process, method, or act of killing so as to take the life of another person. Meanwhile, murder, according to Wirjono Prodjodikoro, is an act or deed carried out by a person against another person so that in his actions it can cause the loss of someone's life. In the rules in Indonesia, murder is directly interpreted in Article 338 of the Criminal Code, which reads: "Anyone who intentionally takes the life of another person is guilty of murder". Hence, it can be concluded that murder is an act by a person that results in that person being killed or dying.

Meanwhile, the meaning of femicide has not been clearly regulated in Indonesian laws and regulations, however, femicide is not a new discourse in global dynamics. The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) states that femicide is the deliberate murder of women because of their sex or gender, which is driven by superiority, dominance, hegemony, aggression, or misogyny towards women; a sense of ownership of women, inequality of power relations, and sadistic satisfaction. Femicide is often categorized as an unusual murder because there are many things behind the murder so that it is categorized as femicide.

There is a difference between murder and femicide even though the end of the act causes death or loss of life. When viewed from its content, femicide is different from murder because it contains aspects of gender inequality, domination, aggression or oppression. Femicide is not death as is generally the case but rather a product of patriarchal and misogynistic culture and occurs both in the private, community and state spheres. Based on these aspects, a new classification was created in the realm of Murder, namely, Femicide.

You can also read: Femicide Has Been Increasing in Indonesia, How Can We Deal With It?

When viewed based on its type, Femicide has 9 types of Femicide, namely: (1) Intimate Femicide, (2) Cultural Femicide (in the name of honor, related to dowry, related to race, ethnicity, related to accusations of witchcraft, related to injury and cutting of female genitalia, Femicide of babies: abortion, infants and toddlers), (3) Femicide in the context of armed conflict, (4) Femicide in the context of the commercial sex industry, (5) Femicide of women with disabilities, (6) Femicide of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, (7) Femicide in Prison, (8) Non-Intimate Femicide (Systematic Murder), and (9) Femicide of Human Rights Activists/Humanitarian Activists.

In short, it can be seen that Femicide has not been systematically regulated in the Laws and Regulations in Indonesia, but globally several countries have regulated rules on Femicide including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Indeed, Indonesia has basically issued a regulation, namely Law Number 7 of 1984 concerning the Ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), but in reality, there has not been found a specific regulation (lex specialist) that implements the spirit and mandate of CEDAW.

This shows the government's lack of seriousness in protecting and maintaining the dignity of a woman from the grip of superiority, domination, hegemony, aggression and misogyny. Therefore, the Indonesian government needs to immediately issue regulations that specifically regulate femicide in order to protect and free women from all forms of oppression.

If you are interested in issues related to gender equality and in-depth discussions about feminism, join with Feminist Society Indonesia. Feminist Society Indonesia aims to promote gender equality and women’s rights activism through education and advocacy. To get related articles, please visit the page feminist-society.blogspot.com.

You can also contact us on:

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View More:

https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2024/11/one-woman-or-girl-is-killed-every-10-minutes-by-their-intimate-partner-or-family-member

https://unric.org/en/behind-closed-doors-the-deadly-reality-of-femicide/

https://www.unwomen.org/en/articles/explainer/five-essential-facts-to-know-about-femicide

 

Femicide Has Been Increasing in Indonesia, How Can We Deal With It?

Juneidi Coloay

Feminist Society – Recently, the many murder cases that have occurred in Indonesia have become a hot topic of conversation on social media. Moreover, the murder cases that occurred apparently involved women as victims. This condition is generally known as "Femicide".

Definition of Femicide

Nowadays, femicide has become an important global indicator of gender inequality and violence. Femicide is generally understood as a condition that involves the intentional murder of women due to power relations, but broader definitions of femicide include any killing of women or girls.

Current Cases

Femicide has been increasing and booming in Indonesian media portrayals in recent times. Where there have been several cases of femicide that have caused quite a stir in cyberspace:

1.       On Thursday 25 April 2024, the murder of a woman committed by her co-worker accompanied by the dumping of the victim's body in a suitcase was found on Inspeksi Kalimalang Street, Sukadanu Village, West Cikarang District, Bekasi Regency, West Java.

2.       On Friday 3 May 2024, a murder was committed by a husband against his wife, in Temboan Village, Maesaan District, South Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi.

3.       On Friday 3 May 2024, a woman from Bogor was killed by her male partner in the Kuta area, Badung Regency, Bali. The perpetrator killed the victim because he was emotionally asked to pay more for a commercial dating service.

4.       On Friday 3 May 2024, the sadistic murder of a woman occurred in Ciamis Regency, West Java. The victim was killed and mutilated by her own husband.

Legal Framework

According to Vienna Convention in 2012, femicide can take the form of, inter alia: (1) the murder of women as a result of intimate partner violence; (2) the torture and misogynist slaying of women; (3) killing of women and girls in the name of “honor”; (4) targeted killing of women and girls in the context of armed conflict; (5) dowry-related killings of women; (6) killing of women and girls because of their sexual orientation and gender identity; (7) the killing of aboriginal and indigenous women and girls due to their gender; (8) female infanticide and gender-based sex selection foeticide; (9) genital mutilation related deaths; (10) accusations of witchcraft; and (11) other femicides connected with gangs, organized crime, drug dealers, human trafficking and the proliferation of small arms.

The reasons why femicide happens are diverse, however the main factor is due to power relations between men and women. Thereby women’s rights are highly vulnerable to being neglected. The Indonesian laws have actually regulated diverse kind of legal actions to protect women from femicide phenomenon. Nonetheless, femicide is still hard to tackle as it has been growing in Indonesia at the end of the day.

What Should We Do?

Although we have strong and comprehensive regulations to protect women, but those are not enough to stop femicide cases. Therefore, there should be progressive steps by the government to overcome the femicide phenomenon in Indonesia.

1.       The Importance of Good Relationship

Women empowerment comes into play in building good relationships and avoiding toxic relationships either inside or outside the family circle. Women’s awareness of those things can help them to avoid acts of domestic violence, abuse by family members, as well as crimes in romantic relationships.

2.       Supportive Public Policy

There should be supportive public policy for women, as simple as public facilities which are special for women, children, pregnant, and those with disabilities. It could be like special train carriage, special bus station and so on. It could prevent and protect women from sexual harassment and multiple forms of sexual violence in public spaces.

3.       Active Role of External Parties

There needs to be an active role from related parties like making efforts to involve the mass media and public campaigns, providing psychological assistance, legal advice and support, as well as active and massive role from the police and other legal apparatus.

If you are interested in issues related to gender equality and in-depth discussion about feminism, let’s join with Feminist Society. Feminist Society aims to promote progress in three key aspects of gender equality and women’s rights activism: Law, Policy, and Advocacy through the provision of digital-based information. To get related articles, please visit the page feminist-society.blogspot.com.

You can also contact us on:

Instagram            : @feministsociety.id

Email                     : fem.official7@gmail.com

View More:

https://itsagirlmovie.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Vienna_Declaration_on_Femicide.pdf

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-08398-8_2