This topic is a lively one, and I apologize in advance for not having a lot of time to write about it. My main interest here is the role of women in Indonesia. The topic could also include discussion of what are called the erotic temples. We’ll see what we can cover in the time available.
There is an article in a Garuda Indonesia magazine entitled, “Women in Politics.” It cited recent polls concluding, “In terms of competence and intelligence, it is currently perceived that there is no significant difference between men and women in politics.” My Indonesian woman friend in Hong Kong agreed with this. Furthermore, “…more than half of the public find women in parliament have increasingly improved the performance level…According to male voters, women are more honest and trustworthy…Women in politic are also perceived by more than half of the voting public as being able to curb corruption in government.”
The article goes on to enumerate some traditional attitudes that still exist, yet it is amazing to me to see women so accepted in policy-making positions in this Moslem country. I was also heartened by the attitude towards educating children. According to our Jojakarta tour guide, a former history teacher, if the parents can’t afford to educate all their children to the highest level, the first consideration will be scholastic aptitude, not sex.
I’ll skip over commentary on how Moslem society may still be limiting to women in Indonesia, and go on to a specific exception, the matriarchal society of West Sumatra. There the women rule. When daughters marry, they stay in their family compound, and their husbands join them. A woman can divorce her husband easily if she wants to do so, but our guide said that since the whole village would know why, the woman might not get another man if people felt her husband had been wronged. Slava asked how men felt about being treated as Number Two in the family. “Well,” said our guide, “if you ask the children, they’d say that their father is Number Four. Their mom is Number One, Two, and Three.” All this was hard for Slava to take. “Don’t the men want to run away?” he asked. “Actually, they do,” our guide responded. “Sometimes they go to other islands and open restaurants, although they don’t cook at home.”
West Sumatra is Moslem, which makes it particularly remarkable that the social order there is matriarchal. In the mosque men and women are separated as usual, with the men in front, and the women behind a curtain. Imams are men, as usual. For the people of West Sumatra, their ancient matriarchal society is perfectly compatible with modern Islam. They saw no need to adopt the patriarchal system of social organization when they adopted a new religion.
The Hindu religion can be frank in its references to sex. Near the city of Solo on the island of Java there are two Hindu temples dating from the 14th century that have clear sexual symbols, male and female. In a symbol for the female womb I saw symbols of good and bad, so one could conclude that babies are born having both elements. The male penis was clearly shown on statues in case an anatomy lesson was needed, and was also shown upright by itself. Hindu couples may make the trek to these temples if they have trouble conceiving children. I recommend that any visitor to Java go to the temples, but if not to have children, then to have a spectacular drive up a mountain. The steep hillsides of terraced rice paddies were breathtakingly beautiful. We saw tea plantations above the rice paddies, and small plots of corn incongruously planted near palm trees.
I’ll need to wrap up here if I’m to get this message sent out today.
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