Rabu, 24 Agustus 2011

korban perkosaan ITU KORBAN KEKUASAAN

August 24, 2011
After Strauss-Kahn, Fear of Rape Victim Silence
By CARA BUCKLEY

She seemed to be the perfect witness. She came forward right away, disclosing detail after damning detail of a sexual attack that, backed by forensic evidence, seemed airtight. She stuck to her story. But then her case fell apart after prosecutors questioned her credibility. The charges against the man she accused, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, were dropped.

Now, rape victims, women’s rights advocates, detectives and prosecutors are sifting through the wreckage of the case of the accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, trying to determine what it will mean for rape cases — already among the most delicate in the criminal justice system — in the days and months to come.

Advocates for domestic violence victims said women who are raped would almost certainly be more fearful of stepping forward, knowing that everything in their past may be exposed; indeed, reporting of rapes usually drops in the aftermath of high-profile sexual assault cases. This reluctance, experts said, will be heightened for new immigrants, who are already fearful of authority, often fleeing a sexually violent past.

“This is going to twist and turn things around,” said Susan Xenarios, head of the Crime Victims Treatment Center at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center.

Other advocates said the dismissal relayed a chilling message that rich and powerful men were more likely to get away with sexual assaults. Still others said the facts of the Strauss-Kahn case were unique unto themselves.

Experts said rape crisis centers usually see a drop in reported cases in the aftermath of high-profile sexual assault cases, especially those in which the prosecution failed, like the case against Duke University lacrosse players; the recent acquittal, on the most serious charges, of two New York police officers who visited a drunk woman repeatedly in her apartment; and the William Kennedy Smith case in the 1990s.

More rapes go unreported than not: according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, 6 in 10 sexual assaults are not reported, and just 6 percent of rapists serve jail time.

Michael J. Palladino, president of the Detectives’ Endowment Association, said the publicity of this case would unquestionably be a deterrent for some women. “I’m sure some will hesitate,” he said. “They’re really dragged through the mud, and they’re victimized a second time.”

That thought was echoed by Richard Emery, a longtime civil rights lawyer, who said: “The victim is terribly, terribly tortured, at every level. First by the crime itself. And secondly by the system. There’s no escaping.”

Lynn Hecht Schafran, senior vice president of Legal Momentum, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization for women and girls, said the Diallo case did have its uncommon aspects. The Manhattan district attorney’s office, she noted, went to “unique lengths” to explain its reasoning in dropping the case. The unusual background, including prosecutors’ contention that Ms. Diallo repeatedly lied about her past, should not be a deterrent to other women, she said.

“Victims do not have to be pristine to be believed in court,” Ms. Schafran said.

None of the women’s advocates interviewed expressed doubt in Ms. Diallo’s claim that she was assaulted. And they said her initial account of a gang rape in her home country — which she later admitted was false, contributing to the undoing of her case — could be explained by her anguished state and troubled past, several advocates said.

Dorchen A. Leidholdt, director of the center for battered women’s legal services at the Sanctuary for Families, a nonprofit group that works with victims of domestic violence, noted that a vast majority of Guinean immigrant women had suffered from female genital mutilation and were often forced into an early marriage.

“Erratic responses are something that we see over and over again,” Ms. Leidholdt said. “Her behavior was consistent with a trauma victim.”

Women from tightly knit West African communities in New York were especially focused on the dismissal, saying it lent credence to entrenched beliefs that governed behaviors and attitudes among Muslim immigrants here: that in the event of a sexual attack, a woman is still to blame.

“In Africa, if something happens to you, you have to shut your mouth,” said a 35-year-old former saleswoman from West Africa, who left a job as a home attendant after a charge in her care made sexual advances, and who did want her name published for fear of community retribution. “But when you come here from Africa, you think that there’s protection for women’s rights.”

Still, several women said they were inspired by Ms. Diallo.

A 23-year-old graduate student who is from Guinea and lives in the Bronx said Ms. Diallo’s allegations emboldened her to lodge a complaint against a professor who had made sexual advances and offered her a higher grade if she complied. The woman, who requested anonymity for fear of community stigmatization, was raped by a family member years ago, she said, yet until recently never told a soul. She said the dismissal in the Diallo case suggested to her that people in power would always be protected.

“I feel more vulnerable,” she said.

As for Ms. Diallo, the young graduate student said the former hotel worker had already been ostracized among New York’s Guineans for being an “unlucky woman.”

“This situation,” the young woman said, “is going to make things worse.”

Kamis, 18 Agustus 2011

PEREMPUAN ASIA: lebih bebas

Asia's lonely hearts
Women are rejecting marriage in Asia. The social implications are serious
the economist
Aug 20th 2011 | from the print edition

TWENTY years ago a debate erupted about whether there were specific “Asian values”. Most attention focused on dubious claims by autocrats that democracy was not among them. But a more intriguing, if less noticed, argument was that traditional family values were stronger in Asia than in America and Europe, and that this partly accounted for Asia’s economic success. In the words of Lee Kuan Yew, former prime minister of Singapore and a keen advocate of Asian values, the Chinese family encouraged “scholarship and hard work and thrift and deferment of present enjoyment for future gain”.

On the face of it his claim appears persuasive still. In most of Asia, marriage is widespread and illegitimacy almost unknown. In contrast, half of marriages in some Western countries end in divorce, and half of all children are born outside wedlock. The recent riots across Britain, whose origins many believe lie in an absence of either parental guidance or filial respect, seem to underline a profound difference between East and West.

Yet marriage is changing fast in East, South-East and South Asia, even though each region has different traditions. The changes are different from those that took place in the West in the second half of the 20th century. Divorce, though rising in some countries, remains comparatively rare. What’s happening in Asia is a flight from marriage (see article).

Marriage rates are falling partly because people are postponing getting hitched. Marriage ages have risen all over the world, but the increase is particularly marked in Asia. People there now marry even later than they do in the West. The mean age of marriage in the richest places—Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong—has risen sharply in the past few decades, to reach 29-30 for women and 31-33 for men.

A lot of Asians are not marrying later. They are not marrying at all. Almost a third of Japanese women in their early 30s are unmarried; probably half of those will always be. Over one-fifth of Taiwanese women in their late 30s are single; most will never marry. In some places, rates of non-marriage are especially striking: in Bangkok, 20% of 40-44-year old women are not married; in Tokyo, 21%; among university graduates of that age in Singapore, 27%. So far, the trend has not affected Asia’s two giants, China and India. But it is likely to, as the economic factors that have driven it elsewhere in Asia sweep through those two countries as well; and its consequences will be exacerbated by the sex-selective abortion practised for a generation there. By 2050, there will be 60m more men of marriageable age than women in China and India.

The joy of staying single

Women are retreating from marriage as they go into the workplace. That’s partly because, for a woman, being both employed and married is tough in Asia. Women there are the primary caregivers for husbands, children and, often, for ageing parents; and even when in full-time employment, they are expected to continue to play this role. This is true elsewhere in the world, but the burden that Asian women carry is particularly heavy. Japanese women, who typically work 40 hours a week in the office, then do, on average, another 30 hours of housework. Their husbands, on average, do three hours. And Asian women who give up work to look after children find it hard to return when the offspring are grown. Not surprisingly, Asian women have an unusually pessimistic view of marriage. According to a survey carried out this year, many fewer Japanese women felt positive about their marriage than did Japanese men, or American women or men.

At the same time as employment makes marriage tougher for women, it offers them an alternative. More women are financially independent, so more of them can pursue a single life that may appeal more than the drudgery of a traditional marriage. More education has also contributed to the decline of marriage, because Asian women with the most education have always been the most reluctant to wed—and there are now many more highly educated women.

No marriage, no babies

The flight from marriage in Asia is thus the result of the greater freedom that women enjoy these days, which is to be celebrated. But it is also creating social problems. Compared with the West, Asian countries have invested less in pensions and other forms of social protection, on the assumption that the family will look after ageing or ill relatives. That can no longer be taken for granted. The decline of marriage is also contributing to the collapse in the birth rate. Fertility in East Asia has fallen from 5.3 children per woman in the late 1960s to 1.6 now. In countries with the lowest marriage rates, the fertility rate is nearer 1.0. That is beginning to cause huge demographic problems, as populations age with startling speed. And there are other, less obvious issues. Marriage socialises men: it is associated with lower levels of testosterone and less criminal behaviour. Less marriage might mean more crime.

Can marriage be revived in Asia? Maybe, if expectations of those roles of both sexes change; but shifting traditional attitudes is hard. Governments cannot legislate away popular prejudices. They can, though, encourage change. Relaxing divorce laws might, paradoxically, boost marriage. Women who now steer clear of wedlock might be more willing to tie the knot if they know it can be untied—not just because they can get out of the marriage if it doesn’t work, but also because their freedom to leave might keep their husbands on their toes. Family law should give divorced women a more generous share of the couple’s assets. Governments should also legislate to get employers to offer both maternal and paternal leave, and provide or subsidise child care. If taking on such expenses helped promote family life, it might reduce the burden on the state of looking after the old.

Asian governments have long taken the view that the superiority of their family life was one of their big advantages over the West. That confidence is no longer warranted. They need to wake up to the huge social changes happening in their countries and think about how to cope with the consequences.

Selasa, 09 Agustus 2011

CA(k)pres (1)

KAHMI & PA GMNI Usung Mahfud-Soekarwo Capres 2014?
Nurul Arifin - Okezone
Rabu, 10 Agustus 2011 03:06 wib


SURABAYA - Pertemuan sejumlah Pengurus Alumni Gerakan Mahasiswa Nasional Indonesia (PA-GMNI) dengan Korps Alumni Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam (KAHMI) di rumah dinas Ketua MPR, Taufik Kiemas di Jalan Widya Chandra IV Jakarta, Senin 8 Agustus lalu, dikabarkan membahas pengusungan dua orang untuk tampil sebagai pemimpin bangsa.

Dua nama yang digadang-gadang bakal ikut meramaikan bursa Capres-Cawapres adalah Mahfud MD, Ketua Mahkamah Konstitusi (KAHMI) dan Soekarwo, Gubernur Jawa Timur (PA-GMNI).

Soekarwo, yang juga Ketua PA-GMNI ketika dikonfirmasi membenarkan pertemuan tersebut. Menurutnya, pertemuan atas inisiatif dari KAHMI di kediaman Taufiq Kiemas yang juga anggota Dewan Kehormatan PA-GMNI.

"Sebenarnya undangannya hanya 400 orang, tapi yang hadir sampai 800 orang. Sebab, tokoh-tokoh Cipayung yang sekarang tersebar di berbagai partai politik dan lembaga negara juga ikut hadir," kata Soekarwo kepada wartawan di sela-sela acara buka puasa bersama dengan sejumlah partai politik Jawa Timur di Kantor DPW PKS Jatim, Jalan Gayung Sari, Surabaya, Selasa (9/8/2011).

Pria yang akrab disapa Pak Dhe ini berkilah, pertemuan hanyalah silaturrahim yang dikemas dalam bentuk buka puasa bersama. Namun tidak menutup kemungkinan dari pertemuan itu tercetus ide-ide segar untuk memikirkan nasib bangsa ini ke depan. Sebab, beberapa tokoh yang hadir dipertemuan itu adalah dari berbagai bidang dan profesi.

Ia menyebut beberapa tokoh yang hadir dalam acara tersebut adalah Akbar Tanjung anggota Dewan Pembina Partai Golkar, Siswono Yudhohusodo mantan menteri pertanian, Taufik Kiemas Ketua MPR RI, Mahfud MD Ketua Mahkamah Konstitusi (MK), Viva Yoga Mauladi Wakil Ketua FPAN DPR RI dan Ja'far Hafsah Ketua FPD DPR RI.

Disinggung apakah tokoh-tokoh Cipayung juga memikirkan nasib bangsa ke depan? Dengan lugas Soekarwo menjelaskan bahwa tokoh-tokoh Cipayung memang telah mengerucut dalam masalah suksesi kepemimpinan bangsa.

Intinya, mereka ingin bangsa Indonesia ke depan harus lebih baik. Karena itu harus dipimpin oleh orang-orang yang kredibel dan capabel. "Kalau itu iya, bahkan telah mengerucut bangsa ini harus dipimpin oleh kader terbaik yang dimiliki bangsa Indonesia," ungkapnya.

Ketika disinggung apakah dirinya siap jika digandengkan dengan Mahfud MD dalam Pilpres 2014 mendatang. Pria berkumis ini hanya tertawa dan mengatakan siapa yang akan ditunjuk mewakili kelompok Cipayung itu belum dibahas sebab itu terlalu dini.

"Yang jelas, sekarang ini sudah tidak ada lagi politik aliran sehingga rakyat dalam menentukan pemimpinnya juga tidak harus lagi dilihat dari aliran apa, tetapi apakah dia pantas dan benar-benar mampu menerima amanat rakyat," kilah Soekarwo yang juga Ketua DPD Jatim Partai Demokrat.
(ful)

Sabtu, 06 Agustus 2011

ketiban duren jadi keren

Jumat, 05/08/2011 18:18 WIB
Dawud Bantah Darsem Ingkari Janji-janjinya
Ken Yunita - detikNews


Jakarta - Darsem dituding telah mengingkari janji-janjinya yang diungkapkan sebelum menerima dana sumbangan Rp 1,2 miliar. Namun hal itu dibantah oleh ayah Darsem, Dawud. Menurutnya, Darsem telah menepati semua janji-janjinya.

"Anak saya kan sudah memberi sumbangan ke mana-mana. Ke orang jompo, ke anak yatim sama bangun masjid. Kita sudah bagi-bagi itu," kata Dawud saat berbincang dengan detikcom, Jumat (5/8/2011).

Dawud juga mengklaim, Darsem juga telah berbagi dengan keluarga Ruyati, TKI yang dipancung di Arab Saudi. Namun mengenai jumlahnya yang hanya Rp 20 juta, Dawud enggan berkomentar banyak lagi.

"Kalau itu terserah anak saya, kan itu hak anak saya," kata Dawud.

Dawud bercerita, saat ini Darsem masih sibuk menerima wawancara para wartawan di rumah. Ke depan, Darsem ingin membuka usaha dengan uang yang diperolehnya dari sumbangan pemirsa televisi TVOne itu.

"Kita mau bikin rumah, beli sawah dan mau bikin warung di kampung saja. Belum tahu juga mau usaha apa untuk hidup ke depan," kata Dawud.

Sebelumnya pengacara Darsem, Elyasa Budianto bercerita soal sikap Darsem yang berubah setelah kaya mendadak. Elysa juga bercerita mengenai sikap tetangga Darsem yang tidak suka dengan gaya hidup ibu satu anak itu.

Setelah menerima uang Rp 1,2 miliar, penampilan Darsem menjadi penuh dengan bling-bling. Seluruh tubuh Darsem penuh dengan perhiasan emas sehingga perempuan itu mendapat julukan 'Toko Emas Berjalan'.


(ken/fay)