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A lot of men secretly or even publicly denounce gender-equality. Worse, much worse, even today some men  happen to be treating women like commodities on two legs. So when John Lennon  forty years ago sang  “Woman is the nigger of the world . Think about it…do something about it” , he had a point.

I don’t think the ex-Beatle  had the likes of  Madonna, Lady Gaga, Megawati Sukarnoputri or Hillary Clinton  in mind. More likely he thought of the vinctims of sex-obsessed Alpha guys like Silvio Berlusconi and Dominique Strauss Kahn- men urgently needing therapy. Or he thought of  seemingly posh members of the board as well as their civilized managers in the work place practising job- and career discrimination. And not to forget pious believers collecting wives as well as selfish husbands irresponsibly leaving their wife and children without providing them with sufficient means. And obviously also vulgar and brutal criminals involved in disgusting women trafficking.

Though a lot of women empowerment has been accomplished since, harassment and rape still are commonplace.  In the archipelago a series of incidents now put specifically public transport in the dock. For instance last year there were a large number of complaints about men behaving badly towards female passengers on the trains. And recently men are behaving much worse in and around angkots.  Last September a minivan-driver and three friends were involved with a Padang gangrape, last October one of his colleagues committed  a similar crime in Jakarta, in December a lady from Depok met with such an ordeal and this month once more a teenager fell victim to a gang of five after leaving a minivan. It is a very worrying picture; public transport is not safe for women.

John was right when he demanded to “do something about it”.

And, well,  measures have been taken or announced. The idea of separate carriages for men an women on trains has been partly implemented. And the Transportation Agency is considering shutting down an entire minivan route.  Some officials advised girls and women to carry pepper-spray with them.

I don’t know. Some measures have to be taken indeed. Improving security of course is common sense.  I seriously doubt however whether healthy relations between men and women are helped by keeping them separate.  And abolishing transport routes which cause incidents is radical – but actually no solution at all.  Also the advice to women to carry pepper-spray in order to be able to put up effective resistance when facing extreme sexual harassment, could end with everybody carrying guns – including the trigger happy individuals. Not less, but more victims could be the result.

In the long run rather than to contain male aggression when it occurs,  prevention should be priority. By systematic sound sexual education from childhood on for instance. And by executing policies based on reliable research concerning specific conditions that enhance or diminish the chance of male libidos running out of control in the work place.

Update: Today, Thursday January 26th,  another teenager was raped by an angkot driver, the Jakarta Globe reports.

In 16th century Spain there were laws and bylaws. And they were maintained.

So assume I’ve lived in Madrid in 1512 and announced publicly that if the Father of the Old Testament would be tried by the norms set by the Son of the New Testament he would face the death penalty for crimes against humanity. It would have  caused significant anger. Being publicly critical about the Holy Book and religion was strictly forbidden. No doubt whatsoever after such a statement I would be arrested, tortured, tried for heresy, blasphemy as well as for disturbing peace and order and next be burned on the stakes.

In hindsight one could wonder if this kind of “rule of law” would have equalled “justice”.

Fortunately today is five centuries, the separation of church and state and a much more relaxed approach to matters of religion later.

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The Empire of the archipelago belonged and belongs to the capitalistic world. Indonesians will remember the Asian financial crises ’97.  It took the country a decade to bounce back.

This time ,Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo says, RI will weather the storm. What’s happening right now 12000 km North West of Jakarta reminds of 15 years ago, but will not harm Indonesia’s economy. Just to be on the safe side he is on the look out in the watchtower for an early warning in case some fall out from Europe will happen to jeopardize Indonesia’s thriving economy.

So that’s the way it is. And I’m citizen of the continent that’s a threat to the well being of the rest of the world.

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Minister Gumawan Fauzi has not a reputation to be an ardent defender of the separation between state and religion. On the contrary, he is proud to be befriended with the gallant fighters of the FPI ( and FUI). He said so last year after the courageous vigilantes had taught a bunch of Christian churchgoers a violent lesson.

He can be satisfied. These brave guys never forsake. They keep it no secret why they are there. It’s just because of their noble goals and intentions. Their members only want ‘to increase grace and goodness and to resist grave temptations and avoid grievous sin’. And that’s official: their holy aggression is their expression of ‘grace and goodness’.

Please keep that in mind if they come to destroy your church, mug your fellow citizens, ruin your shop or vandalize your ministry. It’s being done for a great cause. And that’s a great comfort.

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There is good news from Solo.

The city made the headlines by their utility vehicle Kiat Esemka lately. It  did stir nationalistic emotions. Well, it actually has become a genuine media hype.

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