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Indonesian women lambast discriminating laws
By ZAKKI HAKIM,Associated Press Writer AP - Tuesday, March 24
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia has more than 150 laws that discriminate against women by regulating dress or behavior, a rights group said Monday, calling on the country's majority to stand up to a small but vocal group of hard-line Muslims.
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Kamala Chandrakirana of the National Commission on Violence Against Women called for an end to "institutionalized discrimination."
"We have the power and will to reverse the trend," she said at seminar studying the effects of decentralization in the secular nation, which has more Muslims than any other in the world. "It's our obligation to protect the rights of the minority and to make sure everyone feels safe."
Though Islamic-inspired laws passed in recent years have turned out to be unpopular and are generally ignored, as long as they are on paper they pose a threat, she said. In some places, unmarried women can be thrown in jail for being with a man in private or _ in the most notorious case _ alone at a bus stop after dark.
Most people in the nation of 235 million practice a tolerant form of Islam, but a small but determined group of conservatives trying to reshape it in the image of orthodox Middle Eastern countries are chipping away at the sprawling archipelago's secular traditions, she and others said.
Aiding the conservatives is the high level of autonomy given to local and regional legislatures since Suharto's 32-year dictatorship came to an end amid massive, pro-democracy street protests one decade ago.
More than 50 legislative bodies _ from westernmost Sumatra island to Sulawesi further east _ have passed Islamic-inspired laws from forcing schoolchildren to wear head scarves to detaining women suspected of prostitution.
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