ALSA MAGAZINE 1ST EDITION 2021: Celebrating Southeast Asian Women of The Past, Present & Future

A-MAG

ALSA MAGAZINE | ISSUE 01 | MARCH 2021

Celebrating Southeast Asian Women of The Past, Present & Future A SPECIAL EDITION

Issue 01

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She was powerful not because she wasn't scared but because she went on so strongly despite the fear.

Atticus

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E D I T O R T H E F R O M L E T T E R

Women In Asia

On behalf of the International Board of 20/21, we would like to wish our ALSA Members a Happy Lunar New Year and we hope that our readers are staying healthy and safe wherever you are! Following the success of A-MAG Publications in 2020, we have decided to continue with its publication in the year of 2021. To kick start the 1st Edition of the year, the theme is "Celebrating Southeast Asian Women of The Past, Present & Future" in conjunction with the International Women's Day ("IWD") this March.

As we are entering the year with a fresh start where great news such as COVID-19 vaccines are now available, devastating news such as natural disasters, political turmoil and violation of human rights that are destroying our livelihood are still making the headlines. Therefore, A-MAG will be featuring this theme to boost our spirits up and to remind us all that regardless of how big or small our contribution to the society, our contribution matters and we will rise again. The aftermath of COVID-19 is taking its toll on everyone as it continuously cripples down the economy and a lot of women especially mothers, being the breadwinner of the family have been forced out of the workforce or have to take on more work to provide for their families. In this respect, the governments in addressing their responses to the pandemic, does not involve gender-based planning in their policies which deteriorates these issues further. To make things worse, violence against women are even more rampant recently and not much has been done to eradicate this problem. Our contributors from various jurisdictions highlights the injustices that are happening in their backyard and also provided us with some insights on the women who are paving the way for future generations to empower us.

We thank the A-MAG and ALSA Legal Newsletter contributors for making this edition a success in highlighting the issues above. We thank our readers for the continuous support and we hope that this edition will empower you in achieving great things in your life.

Sincerely yours, Nur Khairunnisa Binti Muzamir Shah

VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC RELATIONS, AND MARKETING

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A-MAG

ALSA MAGAZINE | ISSUE 01 | MARCH 2021 Nur Khairunnisa Binti Muzamir Shah

Editor-In-Chief

ALSA Editorial Board 20/21

Editors

Alyzza Kara P. Acabal | Umar Danial Nasarudin

Layout Artists

Nur Khairunnisa Muzamir Shah | Jesslyn Febria | Edelweiss | Michael Ryle C. Blanco | Ms. Vilaysone VANNASI | Ms. Souphinthip Saiyumnad | Mr. Sithixay SAYASENG & Mr. Phetthanousone PHOMMAVONG

Contributors for the "Global Affairs" Section

Muhammad Ardiansyah Arifin | Elmina Karina Tarigan | Ethan Quah | Gisela Tracy Gracia King | Hoang Thi Thu Ha | Izzati Barudin | Jieun Lim | Nithya Thanabalan | Miss Thidavanh Sinambounheuang | Tiffany Natawidjaja | Winda Claudia

Contributors for the "Legal Affairs" Section

Edelweis Bintang Revinda | Muhammad Arfan Arif | Virginia Divina | Nurzaskia Ernita Puspa Dewi

Contributors for the "Cultural Review" Section

ASIAN LAW STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION International Board 20/21

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contents

Letter from the Editor, 4 Contributors, 5

Global Affairs

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Natrah's Tragedy: A Battle Won But A War Defeated Nur Khairunnisa Muzamir Shah The Future is Female: Startups and Tech Industry Jesslyn Febria Women Defining Leadership Edelweiss Call Me WOMAN Michael Ryle C. Blanco The Rights of Women Mr. Sithixay SAYASENG & Mr. Phetthanousone PHOMMAVONG YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD, GIRL Ms. Vilaysone VANNASI A Man Who Be Crazy for the Rank Ms. Souphinthip Saiyumnad

Legal Affairs

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Impact of Law and Technology Towards Progress of Woman Equality in Law Firm Legal Profession Muhammad Ardiansyah Arifin

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35 36 37 39 40 41 42

Plai Ngandi: Tradition vs.

State Protection of Women’s Marriage Rights Elmina Karina Tarigan Are Sexual Crimes Against Women Going Unpunished?

Ethan Quah Let Equality Bloom: Fighting the LongStanding Gender Norms Gisela Tracy Gracia King THE LABOR CODE 2019: FROM PROTECTING TO EMPOWERING WOMEN Hoang Thi Thu Ha Eliminating All Discrimination against Women Izzati Barudin Abortion Ban in South Korea Finally Got Lifted Jieun Lim Women Politicians in Singapore Nithya Thanabalan

contents

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Women in Power Miss Thidavanh Sinambounheuang The Fault of Forced Marriage Concept in Indonesia's Custom Tiffany Natawidjaja PATRIARCHY : A GENDER EQUALITY’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE Winda Claudia

Cultural Review

53 54 56 59

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There is Nothing Indonesian Women Can’t Do Edelweis Bintang Revinda UANG PANAI’ : THE TRADITION THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW Muhammad Arfan Arif Tari Gegerit : The Never Ending Struggle of Women Virginia Divina Educated by Tara Westover Nurzaskia Ernita Puspa Dewi

Global Affairs

We are part of something bigger, a larger ecosystem that connects us all.

GLOBAL AFFAIRS

Natrah's Tragedy: A Battle Won But A War Defeated WRITTEN BY NUR KHAIRUNNISA MUZAMIR SHAH ALSA INTERNATIONAL BOARD VP PRM

Maria Hertogh, commonly known as Natrah, was a Dutch girl raised by a Malay family in 1942. A victim of egoism from the west, Natrah was torn by the tug-of-war between two families, two religions and two countries. The child’s happiest life in Malaya shattered when she was forced to go back to the Netherlands, only to be possessed as a "biological asset" rather than a daughter.

Here, we look at the impact of the chain of events surrounding the incident, including the 1952 ‘Natrah Riots’ in Singapore and the change in child custody laws after the verdict of Natrah’s case. While many articles highlighted the positive outcomes of the tragedy, many forgotten its impact on the most important stakeholder—Natrah.

In the Name of Identity: Where Did Natrah’s Soul Truly Fit in?

Natrah was born in 1937 to a Dutch Catholic family living in Tjimahi, Java. In 1942, her dad became a prisoner of war during the Japanese occupation. Struggling to care for six children, Natrah’s mother gave her up for adoption to Che Aminah, a close family friend. Brought up as a Muslim Malay for eight years, Natrah left her Dutch Catholic values behind. Che Aminah provided her with love and affection and gave her the world. She was 13 when things unravelled.

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After she was taken back to Netherlands, she grappled with her readjustment to the western culture. However, all of that slowly went away after she was sent to a catholic school and constantly told of how her actions caused death in the Singaporean riots.

Eventually, she adapted to the Dutch culture, but her heart was always troubled.

The full extent of the catastrophe was much more visible in her adult years. To force a child to unlearn the only values she had ever known just so she could adhere to the Dutch culture is nothing short of cruel and inhumane. On top of that, she was never brought to a therapist or counsellor to cope with her struggles. As a result, Natrah felt that she never truly belonged anywhere.

Che Aminah & Natrah Credits: thepatriots.asia

GLOBAL AFFAIRS

The Endless Game of Tug of War in the Name of Politics and Religion The court proceedings between Che Aminah and Mansor Adabi against Natrah’s biological parents sparked many controversial issues: Nationalism issues that fueled anti-colonial sentiment among the locals, and religion issues among Muslims and Christians. The verdict favoured the Hertoghs, which was that Natrah’s nationality was Dutch and her biological father had the right to determine his child’s religion, which led to Natrah’s reconversion to Christianity. An initially simple case of child custodianship snowballed into a war of interests, well documented in the history of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.

Many unnecessary parties became stakeholders to this case, including the Dutch Government, the Crown, the Church, the Dutch Queen and other colonial powers. This led to the ‘Natrah Riots’, where people lost their lives, got injured, and got arrested given death rows. Notably, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia’s first Prime Minister substituted five people’s death sentence with life imprisonment instead.

This case triggered a change in child custody laws around the world to include the child’s wishes as a consideration—a privilege from which Natrah did not get to benefit. Yet, whenever this topic comes up, Muslims and Christians often heavily emphasised on the colonial powers and the issue of religion at the expense of an innocent child. The Christians and the colonial powers boasted about their triumph against the Muslims; the Malays bragged about their success in uniting the Malays and standing tall against colonialism. Neither parties truly cared for her wellbeing, and she was left to cope with her trauma and sadness. No one bothered to ask her how she truly felt.

This case is not dissimilar to Indira Gandhi’s case, a Malaysian custodianship case sensationalised to a religion issue. The case showed to us that public interest of all Malaysians needs to be considered, even in Syariah cases.

Although, on paper the laws affect Muslims only, the situation is more complicated. The Indira Gandhi tragedy depicts how non-Muslims are also affected by the essence of justice for which Muslims constantly advocated.

The Media’s Part in Being Manipulative in Escalating People’s Rage When the Dutch newspapers picked up that Natrah was married to a Malay Muslim, her biological family was not spared any privacy or shame; the papers even added that they failed to get their daughter back. The international press depicted Che Aminah as a nursemaid who ran away with her employer’s child during the Second World War, and called Natrah a “jungle girl” brought up by an Eastern nursemaid. Thus, the Hertoghs faced backlash from their community.

Credits: MSNews.

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GLOBAL AFFAIRS

The international press depicted Che Aminah as a nursemaid who ran away with her employer’s child during the Second World War, and called Natrah a “jungle girl” brought up by an Eastern nursemaid.

While the appeal was ongoing, the Consul General announced that Natrah had to be re-educated to Christianity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Convent of the Good Shepherd. The English Press took advantage of the situation to further infuriate the Muslims by publishing manipulative articles of Natrah relying on the comfort of the Church to cope with her situation. In truth, the events were staged to annoy the Muslims, and Natrah was miserable at the convent and longed for Che Aminah and Mansor Adabi. She begged the Utusan Journalist for help, and much to the colonisers' chagrin, the real story of how miserable Natrah was at the convent was told to the public.

Natrah’s Life in Netherlands: Eternal Bliss or Hell on Earth?

One of the few insightful narratives of Natrah’s story is Fatini Yaacob’s book titled “Natrah: Cinta, Rusuhan, Air Mata” or the english version titled "Natrah: In the Name of Love". In it, Natrah told of how upon returning to the Netherlands, life had never gotten easier for her and how her life in Malaya seemed like a fairytale.

Back in Malaya, she was treated like a child and never worried about house chores.

In the Netherlands, she had no one to turn to. Still, there was a friendly dutchman who was willing to exchange letters between Natrah and her Malay Muslim husband. Yet, even his efforts were manipulated by Dutch police who ensured that Natrah never received her letters and forged her replies to him. Natrah only found out about this incident long after she was married to her second husband, Wolkenfelt.

When Natrah was at the age of 38, a Dutch TV Producer approached her to have her featured in the premiere of her documentary life story in a television programme titled, “The Time Stood Still”. The documentary affected her emotionally, especially when she saw her first husband after 25 years. Natrah slumped into depression after watching the documentary. Seven months later, she was arrested for suspicion of conspiring to kill Wolkenfelt. After her release, she divorced him and married a man who cheated on her. Then, she remarried to a Ben Pitchel, left her children from her previous marriages behind, and moved to the US to seek out a possible business venture.

Unfortunately, the plan did not materialised.

In the US, Natrah worked multiple jobs.

When Fatini Yaacob met her at Lake Tahoe, she was working as a maid. Evidently, she returned to Kemaman, Malaysia in 1998 to visit her elder adoptive sister, a Japanese girl Che Aminah adopted. It was their first reunion after 48 years. Both Che Aminah and her first husband were no longer alive at that time. Natrah manage to visit Che Aminah’s grave, and it was documented that she whispered “I’m back”. The trip left a good impact on her, for she finally had closure.

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GLOBAL AFFAIRS

In 2002, she divorced Ben Pitchel and moved back to Netherlands to live with her children.

She lived a cheerful life up until 2009, when she passed away due to leukaemia. In her will, she expressed her wish to have her body donated to medical research.

Natrah was strong enough to find herself again, despite all that she had been through.

Although she never got the chance to meet Che Aminah and her first husband again, the love she had for them were always etched in her memories and her heart.

Natrah would have led a simple yet meaningful life.

It was well documented many times that Natrah’s happiest memories were her childhood with Che Aminah. If Natrah had stayed in Malaya, she never had to experience the bitter and cruel treatment of life. Her perception of the world and religion would not be tainted with so much negativity. In an alternate reality, Natrah would be genuinely happy and her heart would always be at peace.

In Another Life: An Alternate Reality for Natrah Although it is not wise to dwell on the past and ponder on the ‘what ifs’ and ‘could-havebeens’, it is necessary to depict how Natrah’s life would have turned out if the tragedy never happened. If the colonial powers were to leave her alone, Natrah would have had a happier childhood. She would be shown constant love from a mother. Che Aminah’s love for her knew no boundaries. Natrah would have grown to be a healthy young woman married to the love of her life. She would never have to go through multiple marriages just to fill the emptiness in her heart.

Credits: MSNews.

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GLOBAL AFFAIRS

The Future is Female: Startups and Tech Industry WRITTEN BY JESSLYN FEBRIA ALSA INDONESIA

Credits: kr-asia.com.

In 2013, Nicole Yap took part in an MIT Global Startup Lab and taught entrepreneurship at Gadjah Mada University. During this time, she began to think about Indonesia’s business potential.

Thus, she established Digitaraya with one of her colleagues and become the co-founder and managing director for Digitaraya. Her jobs were to oversee the firm’s growth, set strategies, and raise awareness towards Digitaraya’s role in accelerating early-stage startups in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

As a female, Nicole understands how important it is to have a supportive environment and role models. She understands the obstacles of being a woman in the tech industry where there are not many women-led businesses and where there are different expectations for females.

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In some states, women are still underrepresented, underpaid, and often discriminated against in the tech industry.

From an educational background view, there are fewer women than men who study computer science. Be that as it may, womenled businesses have increased significantly.

Nicole has also stated that in Digitaraya alone, they are seeing an increasing number of female founders. There are at least 100 new alumni, 54.99% of whom have female founders or co-founders. This is a remarkable achievement for women entrepreneurs. On the other hand, they still have an uphill battle such as limited access to the capital they can obtain and lower income compared to a male-led business. Startups with female leaders have more difficulty in securing fundings. Following this, Digitraya pays special attention to women-led businesses.

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With Gojek and Ventures, they recently held a program that focuses on women-led businesses across the Asia Pacific in an effort to improve the gender balance in the tech sector.

Furthermore, this has extended the network of women in tech beyond Indonesia to share and create solutions to common challenges.

“We think having a community of women that they can share with, learn from, connect with is even more important in this industry,” said Nicole. With all of her achievements at the age of 34, Nicole is a leading figure in a male-dominated industry.

To sum up, we hope to see many more women in startups and the tech industry in the future. The economy will grow significantly due to the digital era and women’s potential to grow a business and be involved in the tech industry as much as men. The next generation can develop the country’s economy through technology and startups, and women can be equally involved. Having females as company leaders can positively impact female employee engagement and retention, along with inspiring other females to do the same.

“We think having a community of women that they can share with, learn from, connect with is even more important in this industry” 16 ALSA MAGAZINE

Women Defining Leadership WRITTEN BY EDELWEIS ALSA INDONESIA

“The future is female” is not an uncommon phrase but what does it truly mean? After constant discussion regarding gender inequality, the issue has not yet come to an end. Women in leadership still face gender barriers and stereotypes that that prevent them from taking on these executive positions.

Southeast Asian women in particular have to conquer the patriarchal society as well as the feminine expectations that they have to fulfil.

Many barriers halt women from taking these leadership roles, making women underrepresented in top executive positions or high political offices in fields such as business, politics, engineering, and many more. Such barriers are for example due to the society's perception that the that leading roles are supposedly for men only if feminine traits are not effective for such roles. This association comes from stereotypes of leadership roles that are ingrained/deep rooted in society without realisation. This stereotype includes stereotypical ‘masculine’ traits like dominance, independence, and aggressiveness. Other than society’s perceptions, individual barriers also affect women. These individual barriers can be as big as external pressures that they receive. Women may not seek or desire these leadership roles due to their own lack of confidence that they may not be able to compete with strong men who already hold the leadership roles.

GLOBAL AFFAIRS

“Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strength.”

However, women of the 21st century are changing the definition of leadership for themselves. As times are more progressive, women can fight and break down these walls that halt them one at a time.

Women are now finding ways to express themselves through doing the things that they love.

For example, Najwa Shihab’s bold personality makes her one of the most recognizable female news anchors in Indonesia. She also hosts “Mata Najwa”, her own talk show where she dives into the world of law and politics. She inspires other women by showing that it is possible for us to be working in a field like politics without being overshadowed by the male counterparts. These barriers and issues may not yet be solved, but as women unite together and be a source of empowerment for each other then equality shall be served. Many women today are also taking initiatives to begin Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) that are made by women, for women. For example, the Asia Pacific Women’s Watch aims to empower all women across Asia through enhancing women’s leadership as a human right.

“The future is female” does not mean female domination. The real meaning to the to the phrase is not to choose female over male. It serves as a reminder for every single one of us that the world denies continuing in this ongoing gender gap.

Leadership gender gaps can only be solved when society is educated regarding this issue, as in unity comes great power. It is a call to action for us to be aware that the system that we are in is flawed and a new transformation on how women define their own meaning of leadership is greatly needed.

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CALL ME

WOMAN

Written By Michael Ryle C. Blanco ALSA PHILLIPINES

The Plight of Filipino Transgender Women

T

he term “woman” has continuously evolved throughout history and has been defined beyond a person’s social status, race, and even reproductive biology.

As the term reflects a person’s journey, transgender women are always associated with the topic of womanhood. French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir even once said that “one is not born, but rather becomes a woman.” Although most people have already embraced the concept of it, others are still hostile. In Philippines, a religion-sensitive and conservative country yet considered as one of the friendlier countries in Southeast Asia when it comes to tolerating the LGBT+ community, Filipino transgender women’s rights are still unrecognized, their lives at risk, and their plight persists.

In 2014, Jennifer was killed for being a transgender woman. What was supposed to be a case of murder was decreased into homicide for the idea of using brute force of the convict was rejected because of Jennifer’s transgender status. In 2015, Veejay was denied entry into an establishment. The club’s personnel upon denying her entry insisted that she was cross-dressing and still a man. In 2017, Bunny was terminated from her job. The reason for her termination was that the management still does not welcome the idea of having a transgender employee working in their offices. In 2019, Gretchen was handcuffed and brought to the police station for entering and using a women’s restroom. The officers who brought her in the station said that she should have used the men’s toilet instead.

Filipino transgender women continuously experience discrimination and inequality on a daily basis because of their gender identity. A national law that will defend and prohibit unwanted acts towards them and a law that will recognise their rights and existence as a woman remains intangible. The 1987 Philippine Constitution, together with International

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GLOBAL AFFAIRS

human rights laws and treaties that the Philippines ratified, mandates the State to uphold equal protection of all people before the law without distinction of any kind. Two decades have passed since the first Anti-Discrimination Bill on the basis of SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression) was filed, yet the Philippines failed to enact a bill protecting its people with diverse SOGIE, especially transgender people, from hate crimes and discrimination.

The fight of Filipino transgender woman for protection, even more so the recognition of their womanhood, is far from over. They are still at risk for living their truths. So even if the term has evolved, as long as humans continue to invalidate the journey and lived experiences of transgender women, to call them woman would be their battle cry as their plight continues.

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GLOBAL AFFAIRS

T H E

R I G H T S

WOMEN Many people still adhere to the traditional idea that men and women should behave in ways that fall into specific categories determined solely based on their gender.

However, male or female gender-specific identities are irrelevant in modern and civilized society. Gender roles are social constructs developed over time and are not based on natural human behavior. This is because gender roles evolved as a way to organize the necessary tasks done in early human society Nevertheless, in many of the modern societies today, there is no need for traditional gender roles, because both men and women are able to do many of the same necessary tasks and equality.

In the past women had no rights to work with the government as doctors, soldiers or in other public servant positions because in the past women have been treated unfairly.

As decades past, women have proved that they should be treated equally with men by their ability and intelligence and not based by their genders. The subject of “Women’s rights” is reflected in the midst of changes.

Today, women are entitled to equal rights and opportunities. When women take on different levels of leadership by participating in public forums to fight, protect and preserve the interest of groups and communities. Women are also at the 20 ALSA MAGAZINE

O F

WRITTEN BY SITHIXAY SAYASENG AND PHETTHANOUSONE PHOMMAVONG ALSA LAOS

forefront of violence. Calls for fairness and peaceful settlement are needed.

Even in the Constitution, which is the highest law in the country, states that “men and women have equal rights” reflected these positive changes. The dreams of the past where men and women are equal is finally becoming a reality.

In the past women had no rights to work with the government as doctors, soldiers or in other public servant positions because in the past women have been treated unfairly.

Even if a woman is viewed as the weaker gender, women still deserve protection from men. However, that does not mean that a woman is not suitable to be their own protector.

A woman holds many strengths, she is a caretaker, blessed to carry children in their own little belly for up to 9 months. Which pose the question; why would nature give women the gift of pregnancy, if women were not able to care and protect those who she holds dear? Hence, it is undeniable that motherly instincts result in female leadership.

The female identity defined by society, such as subtlety, prudence, selflessness, humility and patience, shows that women are their only. But nowadays, there exists equality between women and men. Therefore, women are equally important to the

society as they contributed in helping the community development activities and progress to be more effective.

And as we know on the 8th March 2021, we celebrate the International Women’s Day. On this joyous day we all have to show respect to all the amazing women who devoted their time for their country and family.

Many people still adhere to the traditional idea that men and women should behave in ways that fall into specific categories determined solely based on their gender.

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“YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD, GIRL” WRITTEN BY MS. VILAYSONE VANNASI ALSA LAOS

In the past. women were heavily under the influence of men. They were judged and ruthlessly taken advantage of by the society.

Women had no right to stand up for justice nor did they have the right to pursue a career of their own choice. Instead, they were forced to become housewives. Their role was only to cook, raise children, and serve their husbands.

As time goes on, women around the world demanded freedom, equality and fought to eliminate the exploitation of women—starting by doing their chosen occupations. This allowed them to show their full potential and prove to the world that nothing is impossible for a determined woman. Thus, with that goal, International Women’s Day was then born.

The history of International Women’s Day began in 1907, by female workers of New York State Textile Mill in the United States who demanded fair working hours and payment of unpaid wages against their employer. A year later, The American Socialist Part underwent a revolutionary change and ever since then they held a gathering of women workers on 8th March each year.

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GLOBAL AFFAIRS

On 8th March 1910, Denmark signed the Agreement on Labour representation at the Women’s Labour Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. 100 people from 17 countries designated 8th of March each year as the “day” to hold protests and carry out women’s inequality activities. Later, in 1911, many countries officially held such events and until now the upcoming 8th March 2021 will then be the 110th anniversary of International Women’s Day.

ourselves all the time and believe that we can achieve what we wanted to achieve.

We are not weak even though we are born as women. We all have the potential in one way or another and all that we need is confidence in ourselves that we too can change the world.

On the same note, various research surveys have shown the effectiveness of having a diverse management team, including gender diversity, as women are proven to have financial and logistical advantages over men.

In Asia, it has been shown that women have fewer opportunities to become leaders than men. 72% of the respondents believe that society limits their potential.

This is due to perception of the society that believes women are fragile, emotional, and afraid to make decisions.

We must respond clearly and frankly, because we want society to understand that women too are equally brave and determined as men.

Nowadays, women play an important role in both public and private sectors. They are influencing the economy and society, and they are now given more opportunities than ever before. Even so, women still need to adapt to being modern, social, and keep up to date with the ever-changing environment.

The quote, “Just believe in yourself,” shows that before embarking on something, we must first believe in ourselves and try to find our own potential. We need to train ALSA MAGAZINE 24

A Man Who Be Crazy for the Rank WRITTEN BY MS. SOUPHINTHIP SAIYUMNAD ALSA LAOS

In my country Laos, there are many stories about gender inequality. And this is one of the many stories I have read. It is a fictional story in the past that one family had a daughter. But the head of the family, the father, he is very passionate about his financial power. His daughter was not allowed to marry the poor, and the daughter cannot rebel against her father. A mother could not help her child because the woman had no rights to express her opinion. The man has to show his sincerity for the father to accept him.

In my opinion, I think the old world is immensely cruel to women because women cannot do anything by themselves. Even choosing a husband for marriage, the man who controls the woman next to her father is her husband.

Women do not have the right to study nor political rights. They only raised children and care for their husbands. Whenever a man has a mistress, society sees it as normal and may blame his wife for failing to keep their husbands happy.

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On the other hand, if a woman has had an affair with another man, she will be heavily condemned and criticized by everyone around her.

Therefore, I think there should be gender equality in every country and in all society. Nevertheless, women are now more entitled than before in many areas, be it political or social. The rights to learn is equal to that of men.

However, there are still some limitations and restrictions wherein, only men can do but women can't, or some of the things that men can do well but women are perceived to do badly at it.

Regardless of gender in the world, everyone has equal rights. Women can perform the same tasks as men and can have political power too. They have the same rights to learn and cultivate just like the men in the society.

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Legal Affairs

Impact of Law and Technology Towards Progress of Woman Equality in Law Firm Legal Profession Written By Muhammad Ardiansyah Arifin ALSA INDONESIA

Gender equality has come a long way in the legal profession since the first admittance of women into the Victorian Bar in 1905. There is a prediction that women will occupy around 50% of top leadership positions in major law firms, and that women are more represented in the legal profession as shown in Malaysia womento-men ratio in registered lawyers of 51% women compared to 49% men in 2014.

But even now there are still hurdles along the way for women's equality in the legal profession in law firms. Among these hurdles are: (1) Women who worked part-time in law firms tend not to be selected to handle major transactions; (2) Pressure to choose between family and occupation in higher stages of the career; (3) Cognitive bias by superiors in early career stages due to perception that women are not as assertive, competitive, and business savvy compared to their male counterparts.

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However, advances in legal technology in this digital era are transforming the legal industry, particularly the law firms. The digital age brought innovations that will be able to automate several lawyering tasks which will enable lawyers to do more valuable work with their time. This challenges the old law firm system where the revenue model is counted by an hourly model as the basis value creation (billable hours), as Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to cut costs, improve the speed and quality of legal work. Moreover, the advances in the digital age also give rise to alternative ways for legal service seekers to cater to their legal needs as an alternative to traditional law firms with more competitive costs.

Digital legal services such as virtual law firms, legal advice websites, and even legal consultation services via chat applications are present as an alternative for basic legal issues. Furthermore, software services such as automated draft for legal memos and especially legal analytics tool for case trial outcome prediction are feared because it devalues lawyers’ work. Such services will disadvantage traditional law firms, and whether law firms can adapt or not is dependent on its associated partners' willingness to invest in the new technologies. But not all advances in the digital age are harmful to traditional law firms.

There are three instances in which traditional law firms benefited from digital advancement such as: (1) Predictive Coding E-Discovery which made database searching more relevant; (2) Machine learning legal search tools for more efficient law searching for fact application (e.g. Judicata); (3) Document generation template for drafting contracts and wills; (4) AI-based Employee evaluation tool for more transparent hiring and promotion.

These instances here will improve traditional law firm efficiency and transparency. Regardless, this new digital age offers opportunities for women to thrive. The following paragraph shall explain how digital advances could be favorable for womean attorneys in Asia especially with regard to.

(1) How digital implementation allows for more transparent case allocation, hiring, and promotion and h. (2) How new Professional Service Provider (PSF) models allow greater empowerment for women lawyers and lawyers in general.

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LEGAL AFFAIRS

The paragraphs below shall discuss the impact of technological implementation towards women’s equality as attorneys.

Earlier this article mentioned AI-based evaluation tools for employees and prospective employees. Although there are law firms that used this tool, its utilisationse is not yet widespread. For example, O’Melveny & Myers used evaluation tool software developed by Pymetricts to measure their summer associates' traits in work, this removed potential gender bias and other improper bias (racial, ethnic, etc) thus making evaluation fairer.

There are evaluation tools software developed to measure their associates' traits in work which remove potential gender bias and other improper bias (racial, ethnic, etc.) thus making the evaluation fairer.

Other similar software exists such as Mitratech TAP used by NetApp, and BetterWorks which evaluates employees based on a standardized method of achievement instead of comparing personnel directly. However, AI evaluation tools are not beyond fault. Amazon’s experimental recruitment tool is biased against women due to algorithm mistake and scrapped as a result, the mistake by Amazon’s tool is one among the list of grievances that damage the public trust in AI tool ethics and responsibility after the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook scandal.

Thankfully, upgrade measures upon AI tools have taken place in form of procedural safeguards algorithms which would make the tools fairer, transparent, and more objective compared to humans.

The safeguards according to Kayal Munisami, must take into account several factors. The factors to be considered are as follows: (a) Taking into account the detailed gender-specific statistical and quantitative data on employees covering racial/ethnic backgrounds, work hours, type of working arrangements the employee work on (fulltime, part-time, flexible, etc.), practice areas, marital status, number of children, case allocation, leave and daycare options, and professional development program eligibility. This will ensure to get an accurate picture of the differences between employees to craft initiatives and work policies. (b) Allow evaluations on initiatives and work policies to promote women's equality in the law field. (c) Make an impact assessment of how AI will affect the future of women in the law field (work-life balance, bias, etc.). (d) Consider how AI could improve the careers of women in law, and promote equality and diversity. (e) Publish evaluation report towards law societies in fulfilling legal and ethical requirements based on the AI tool use towards equality and diversity, but keep it anonymous so law firms will be incentivised to reveal its data. Although it would need a long time before AI tools become more proficient, the AI tools have helped law firms’ recruitment, evaluation, and case allocation to be fairer and more transparent compared to before the digital age.

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Next, the following paragraphs shall discuss the flexibility potential in the new PSF models. It will elaborate on the forms of new PSF models in the digital age, and the impact of new PSF models towards empowerment opportunities for women lawyers. Earlier this article mentioned about challenges of the current law firm PSF business model because of advances in AI as the digital age progresses.

It is predicted that there will be changes in the legal industry structure of the Cravath System which is the basis of the partnersassociates business model for law firms that is popular since the 1960s, and the billable hour system which both systems are becoming harder to justify because clients start asking fixed fees and changing expectations as technology can solve the problem faster, and in turn making the Cravath System more unsustainable for making profits.

The decline of the old traditional PSF model gives rise to alternative business models.

First is LegalTech which is also known as LawTech. This model context used in this article is a start-up company made by enterprising lawyers which purpose is to provide legal services through automated processing from their concrete projects (chatbots, blockchain, machine learning, legal research analysis platform, lawyer platform, and others). One of the LegalTech forms is a lawyer platform that connects lawyers to their potential clients., Tthis helped lawyers to build their reputation and self-promotion. An example of this platform is OSA in Europe and HeyLaw in Indonesia.

Second, Temporary Staffing Companies (TSC). They cater to the needs of the

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companies in-house to do specific legal work on a contract basis, and to do so TSC gets its personnel from experienced lawyers who are willing to trade highincome for more flexibility. Third, MultiDisciplinary Providers (MDP) which service integrates other PSF aside from legal affairs such as accounting, business consulting, and others to fulfill their clients’ demand.

Fourth, Virtual Law Firm (VLF) is a networkbased legal practice business model with the following characterization: (a) Online client portals; (b) interaction between clients and lawyers online; (c) exchange of information between lawyers and clients online; (d) virtually organized enabling VLF to compete for the service price. The VLF in this article is a collection of lawyers who did not have a common office but organize themselves together for work by utilizing communication technology.

The advantages of the VLF model for lawyers are several. (a). Gaining legal savvy clients and retaining old clients; (b) Expanded reach to serve clients asynchronously; (c) Flexible work-life balance; (d) Effective service delivery and access to information which results in more efficient use of time.

From the four business models, the highest impact on women lawyers comes from the LegalTech lawyer platform and VLF. The TSC model and MDP model although more flexible than traditional law firms, tend to blur their structure similar to that of a traditional law firm which made it harder to differentiate between both models and a traditional law firm. Meanwhile, both the LegalTech lawyer platform and VLF offers a different structure of management and payment. For example, OSA is managed similarly to a company with a shareholder and drawing profits from service fees to the client user instead of lawyers.

of the alternative legal practice models will allow more efficient legal service and better work-life balance for lawyers that will result in fewer-to-none instances where women lawyers must choose between having family or staying in the career.

While VLF changes their structure model to a more distributed authority with emphasis on peer support and utilizing different profit generation models such as fixed price models.

The implication of changes upon payment and management structure allows greater work-life balance for lawyers seeking to seek an alternative way instead of the Cravath System. As the digital age continues to progress and new legal practice business model becoming more popular, it could erase the instance where women and even men must choose between having a family and maintaining their careers as they progressed in the legal practice.

From this article, it can be concluded that advancements in the digital age have the potential for women's future in legal practice. The continuous improvement and popularization of AI tools in recruitment and evaluation will make the hiring process and case allocation freer from human cognitive bias and discrimination mentioned on the first page. Furthermore, the popularization

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Unfortunately due to its infancy stage, there are future issues to consider due to the alternative legal practice model. It is important to note that the present alternative model for legal practice relies on established lawyers with years of experience, thus a new method in training fresh lawyers must be developed for these alternative practices. Another issue is the regulatory framework to maintain the quality of legal service in Asian countries as an adaptation in this digital age, it is important to prepare regulations to ensure that women lawyers and lawyers can benefit from the new developments in the digital age, whilst maintaining the same trustworthiness and quality over their legal practice. Finally as mentioned in earlier paragraphs, safeguards towards AI tool algorithm must be continuously improved to ensure fairer work practice and evaluations for women lawyers.

LEGAL AFFAIRS

Plai Ngandi: Tradition vs. State Protection of Women’s Marriage Rights WRITTEN BY ELMINA KARINA TARIGAN ALSA INDONESIA

Based on Article 1 of Indonesia’s Law No. 1 of 1974 Concerning Marriage (“Law 1/1974”), marriage is defined as “the inner and outer bond between a man and a woman as husband and wife to form a happy and eternal family (household) based on the Almighty God”. It also requires the parties’ conscious agreement in its implementation.

The minimum age requirement for marriage is also regulated, namely at least 19 years of age for both women and men (Law No 16/2019 concerning Amendments to Law No. 1/1974). The phenomenon of bride kidnapping – known as Plai Ngandi – is an uncommon tradition passed down from generation to generation in Sumba, an island located in eastern Indonesia.

This phenomenon can be juridically viewed from the perspective of the position of marriage which is carried out with Customary Law as The Living Law in addition to other Positive Laws where its existence is recognized as long as it does not contradict Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, and higher laws and regulations. The legal problem that occurred was more of an administrative nature when based on Law 1/1974.

Marriage registration is a must, but the legality of customary marriages had not been accommodated. This will then have an impact on the weakness of legal protection against alleged violence that occurs in the traditional Plai Ngandi practice.

Plai Ngandi, originally considered to be the initial stage of a traditional marriage, begins with the pretense of kidnapping the bride to-be who has been dressed up to the prospective groom's house. The new marriage will then officially begin after the prospective bride agrees to marry, followed by the delivery of the Belis (dowry). Rather than being a custom with good will, it instead becomes a means of sexual violence because in practice, the prospective bride does not even know that she is going to be married. There are still some coercion that leads to nonconsensual sexual acts, which are common for minors.

However, the State should be present if it is indeed related to human rights violations, especially regarding family formation as a right that is free from violence – as it is protected within Article 28B of the 1945 Constitution. Apart from that, Plai Ngandi's practice not only resulted in many cases of violence against women's rights, but also the impairment of women's basic rights to marry freely, to choose their spouse, and to enter marriage with their full consent as in line with Law No. 7 of 1984 Article 16 Paragraph 1(b). Ubi Jus Ibi Remedium, if there are rights, there is the possibility of suing, obtaining them, or repairing them if those rights are violated.

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Are Sexual Crimes Against Women Going Unpunished?

WRITTEN BY ETHAN QUAH ALSA SINGAPORE

Singapore is recently rocked by a spate of crimes against women, some of a sexual nature. The public has been in uproar, as there seems to be an incoherency between the premium society places on sexual crimes and the actual sentence being handed on. In deciding the case of Siow Kai Yuan Terrence who committed outrage of modesty, Menon CJ gave an insightful look into the sentencing considerations.

The court seems to apply a 3-limb framework, whether there is a positive desire to change, a conducive environment of change, and risk factors involved. Each limb has its relevant factors with the ultimate aim to determine the propensity of reform. If a strong propensity to reform is present, it will displace the deterrence aspect of sentencing. This deterrence or punitive aspect is what the public would see as justice done for the victim. It is well that the criminal justice system moves towards rehabilitative sentencing. However, a question lingers. Is this applicable in the context of sexual crimes?

The international society considers sexual crimes as heinous acts. Therefore, we ought to ask ourselves whether the punitive principle should ever be displaced.

It is true that in this particular case, a strong propensity to reform was not demonstrated, but it is not impossible to do so. Further, the second limb proves troublesome in certain ways. In general, a conducive environment to change includes a stable family environment that may unfairly skew sentencing favorably towards upper or middle classes. This may potentially create a situation where well-off offenders are let off with an insignificant punishment and ease.

In the end, law is a social contract between each member of society. Punishment is how this contract is enforced. Hence, if the society as a whole considers a certain conduct to be especially undesirable, then the punishment should be the reflection of the conduct.

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Credits: Getty Images

Let Equality Bloom: Fighting the Long-Standing Gender Norms Written by Gisela Tracy Gracia King ALSA INDONESIA

Around the globe, women are gaining unprecedented power. For centuries, women have been viewed as the inferior, more vulnerable gender from social constructs and scientific research – the perfect example of gender norms. Gender norms are described as social norms defining acceptable and appropriate actions for women and men in society, while repeatedly being embedded in formal and informal institutions. These norms became rooted in the mind, as they continue to be produced and reproduced through social interaction. They carry weight in determining women and men’s (often unequal) access to resources and liberties, hence affecting their voice, power, and sense of self.

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LEGAL AFFAIRS

Gender norms could result in various causes, including child marriage. UNICEF reported that 16% of girls in Indonesia are married before the age of 18 and 2% are married before their 15th birthday. This led to Indonesia having the seventh-highest number of women married before the age of 18 in the world – a total of 1,781,000 women. This is considered shocking when we put into perspective how impactful child marriage is in limiting access to girl’s education and making them more vulnerable to sexual violence and therefore affects their future.

The long-standing gender norms are still deep-rooted in modern Indonesian society.

Nonetheless, the improvement in furthering gender equality in Indonesia cannot be ignored, as the women’s movement in Indonesia has continued to grow. This growing agenda for women’s empowerment is living proof that there has never been a greater commitment to gender equality – the time for change is now.

However, Indonesia has come a long way in maintaining progress on gender equality. Since the fall of Suharto, Indonesia’s second president, gender equality is preserved straightforwardly – from ratifying the Convention on the Elimination of Violence Against Women to creating a system that requires political parties to be made up of 30% of women.

Some of Indonesia’s female political figures are strong and competent. From the country’s first female president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, to the finance minister Sri Mulyani – the former leader of the World Bank. Indonesia has also proven to be bringing more women into formal salaried jobs, doubled girls’ enrollment in secondary schools, and made rapid progress in reducing maternal mortality.

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LEGAL AFFAIRS

THE LABOR CODE 2019: FROM PROTECTING TO EMPOWERING WOMEN WRITTEN BY HOANG THI THU HA ALSA VIETNAM

On 20 November 2019, the National Assembly of Vietnam adopted the Labor Code 2019 to replace the Labor Code 2012.

The Labor Code 2019 came into effect from 1 January 2021. The amended Labor Code changed the approach from “protecting female workers” to “promoting gender equality and ensuring rights” for both sexes, male and female workers.

It was widely believed that “men build the house and women make it home”. The saying stated the role of men and women in building a family. While men were responsible for the financial tasks, women were supposed to take care of household chores. This concept made women lose their motivation to strive for their own passion. However, this seems to be not an appropriate thought nowadays. Not only do women do housework and nurture the children but also can play a role as a breadwinner of their family. Women today do not need such “protection”, they can also “build the house” and need to be empowered to do it more.

To amend the prejudice existing for a long time in society, the Vietnam National

Assembly constructed the new Labor Code 2019 from the approach of promoting gender equality and ensuring rights.

Accordingly, there are noticeable issues such as the difference in retirement age between men and women declines from 5 years to 2 years. After giving birth and bringing up children, women find themselves at a disadvantage when returning to work and getting promoted.

However, if they focus on maximizing their capacity at work, they do not have much time left for themselves or their family. This provision gives women the opportunity to extend their working time for living with their passion and asserting their position equal to men at work. Another issue is that the new Labor Code reduces the list of jobs banned to women.

This provision empowers women to choose to do or not.

The Labor Code 2019 stops considering women to be weaker than men. It expands women’s career choices.

Today, when women assert their important status in many fields (society, economic, etc), gender equality at work is more necessary. Gender equality at work is not only a matter of rights but also contributes significantly to promoting sustainable development of the economy. Not only in the labour perspective, but also in other fields of law, Vietnamese competent authorities should pay more attention to women’s rights and empower them through legislations for a better social prejudice on female status.

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LEGAL AFFAIRS

Eliminating All Discrimination Against Women WRITTEN BY IZZATI BARUDIN ALSA BRUNEI

For much of history across the globe, women have been aggressively subjected to a considerable number of disadvantages because of stereotypical attitudes towards them. Discrimination against women is believed to be the outcome of societal norms that women are to be treated as second-class citizens. Women have fought endlessly for their equality, combating for their freedom against all forms of discrimination, violence, and sexual harassment. It is only recently that women are recognized as crucial in the socio-economic development of many countries.

In Brunei Darussalam, the country recognizes the magnitude of the offense and its imminent threat on women. While there is no specific measures mentioned for women, the country provides crucial legislation in combating prostitution and human trafficking under the Women and Girls Protection Act. The Act ensures the protection of women against any immoral activity of prostitution. Anyone who is found guilty of committing offenses under the Act is punishable for up to five years imprisonment and a fine up to $20,000. The measures adopted by the government is essential to eradicate the growth of prostitution activities while paving the way for the advancement of women.

Brunei Darussalam is a sovereign state that actively participates in empowering women as a significant pillar in the development of the country. With a meticulous effort, the state emphasized along with its National Brunei Vision 2035, to readily support initiatives for women’s rights as well as eliminate the barriers to the treatment of women against the wave of societal norms and stereotypes.

Nevertheless, in many parts of the world, women are still considered vulnerable to injustice, exploitation, particularly in human trafficking for prostitution. For instance, in Thailand, prostitution has increased since the 1970s and is normalized despite being illegal.

Many women have been objectified. Children are also being exposed to violence, enslaved for financial gain, and even deprived of their liberty. This is seen as a serious violation of human rights, especially women’s. Social norms, locals, and foreigners are taking advantage of the legal loopholes in Thailand, which are believed to be some of the reasons that shaped the prostitution industry and the rising exploitation of both women and children.

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Abortion Ban in South Korea Finally Got Lifted WRITTEN BY JIEUN LIM ALSA SOUTH KOREA

On January 1st, 2021, the abortion ban in South Korea was lifted. Ever since its introduction in 1953, it has lasted for 66 years and was finally abolished in April 2019 as the Constitutional Court ruled it as 'Unconformable to Constitution'.

Once a law is ruled unconstitutional, the legislature is obliged to revise it until a set period - otherwise the law loses its legal effect. However, the legislature failed to present a revision of the abortion law till the deadline which was 31st December, 2020, thus the clauses that ban abortions became invalid since the first day of 2021.

According to the Article 269 and 270 of Korea's Criminal Act, “A woman who procures her own miscarriage through the use of drugs or other means shall be punished by imprisonment not more than one year or by a fine not exceeding two million won.” and “A doctor, herb doctor, midwife, pharmacist, or druggist who procures the miscarriage of a female upon her request or with her consent, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years.”. Ever since the court ruled them unconstitutional, several revision plans were suggested yet failed to pass through Congress.

For instance, the Department of Justice proposed a government amendment that claims to

sustain the abortion ban but instead allows to be undertaken before the 14th week of a pregnancy. However, this amendment was criticized for its arbitrary standard. Other bills which suggest an overall abolition or 24th week as a limit have been found to be controversial as well.

Abrogation of the punishment clauses do have positive implications regarding a woman’s right of self-determination and right to pursue one's happiness. However, the relevant legal systems to protect pregnant women have not been established, and this legal gap still remains as a problem waiting to be solved. There is, for example, no obligation for doctors to actively perform a termination while the termination itself is no more illegal. Meanwhile, abortive drugs are themselves still considered illegal.

Considering the fact that the legal gap is intensifying a confusion for both pregmant women and medical institutions, the most urgent thing is to enact laws related to the abortion. Likewise, specified standards should be established that are applicable in the process from a counseling to an actual operation. Together these efforts will be a starting point of protecting women's 'Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights' (SRHR) in South Korea.

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LEGAL AFFAIRS

Women Politician in Singapore WRITTEN BY NITHYA THANABALAN ALSA SINGAPORE

The general elections held in Singapore last year saw an unprecedented number of women Members of Parliament (“MPs”) taking office.

The changing socio-political landscape reflects the embracing of women’s increasing role in politics. Out of the 93 seats for elected MPs, 27 of the elected seats will go to women, compared to 21 out of 89 seats after the 2015 polls, and just four seats two decades ago. Out of 2 Non-constituency Member of Parliament seats, one was accepted by Ms. Hazel Poa. Among them, the MPs have varied achievements and experiences. For example, Ms. Gan Siow Huang was the first female Brigadier-General in the SAF. Ms. Raeesah Khan started her own organisation to aid vulnerable populations. The increase in the number of women politicians comes on the heels of Singapore’s first female president, Ms. Halimah Yaccob, who assumed presidency in 2017.

The greater number of women politicians would serve to inject the widening of perspectives and foster greater introspection regarding issues that affect all of us. This idea is encompassed in the theory of intersectionality which states that everyone has multiple identities and roles that affect how they interact and perceive the world. For example, the MPs have stated that they will raise matters relating to caregiving, specifically childcare.

In 2020, the government announced that there will be a gender equality review (“GER”). The GER is spear-headed by three political office holders, namely, Ministers Ms. Sun Xueling, Low Yen Ling and Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Ms. Rahayu Mahzam. Apart from heading the review, they are also actively involved in the dialogues that have been initiated because of it.

The purpose of these dialogues is to engage in discourse regarding the issues that the GER is focusing on. These dialogues serve as opportunities for various stakeholders to understanding the various perspectives. While this is a delicate issue that affects all of us, acknowledging and opening the channels of communication is a step in the right direction.

The GER is deemed as a continuation of Singapore’s efforts in furthering gender equality from the enactment of the Women’s Charter, a legislative act that was passed in 1961 to protect and advance women’s rights in Singapore. Since then, the Women’s Charter has been amended, and new laws have been put in place to better support these efforts. In 2018, the Criminal Procedure Code and Evidence Act were amended to reduce trauma inflicted on survivors during the criminal justice process. These changes exemplify how legislation evolves as our society does.

To summarise, the GER helmed by the MPs is a progressive endeavour built on Singapore’s strong legislative foundation in supporting women’s rights, paving the way for making empowering changes for the better.

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LEGAL AFFAIRS

WOMEN IN POWER WRITTEN BY THIDAVANH SINAMBOUNHEUANG ALSA LAOS

A growing literature examines the organizational factors that promote women’s access to positions of organizational power.

There are fewer studies on the relevant topics, however, explore the implications of women in leadership positions for the opportunities and experiences of subordinates. Women in the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, women leaders to participate in and benefit equally from governance systems. Particularly, Lao’s women's essential contribution to the development of Laos, gender-disaggregated data on education, health and political representation show that women still lack access to basic services and political power.

The problems mentioned above have risen in the past for a long time,therefore there is an idea of wanting to adjust in the future to improve the status of women domestic and international.

Nonetheless, women are organized at the local, provincial and national levels through the Lao women union, an organization with a membership of more than one-third of the organization has focused its attention specifically on women concerns and not simply those of the revolutionary state.

Nowadays, governments have given women the opportunity to have a preference for the conception of and leadership in every occupation.

In the present, Lao government must give respect, education without discrimination, support, government policies, social opportunities to women for conferring them a more active role especially political leadership.

It works globally to make the vision of sustainable development goals a reality for women.

Women should have equal participation in all aspects of life’ focusing on priority areas by UN such as: increasing women’s leadership and participation, ending violence against women, engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes, enhancing women’s economic empowerment and making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting.

Lao’s women are more than just people in association, they are full of propositions, progressive and far-reaching visions. Women play a huge role and reflect that women are adequate of energy, the power to inspire others, creative power in humanity. According to the Lao law in Article 4 on women: the state promotes and prioritizes, creates favorable conditions for development, protects rights, legitimate interests to build strength and advancement. Therefore, In the future they may be another group of people who can assist to promote, provide opportunities and encouragement for girls.

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LEGAL AFFAIRS

The Fault of Forced Marriage Concept in Indonesia's Custom

WRITTEN BY TIFFANY NATAWIDJAJA ALSA INDONESIA

Indonesia has numerous ethnic groups, beliefs, and cultures that are tied to certain customary laws and traditions with their own values. For example, how people carry out a traditional marriage and the consequences. In terms of cultural and religious traditions, certain customary laws compel their people , especially women, when they are already in the capable age according to the national law or not, to get married in such a forceful situation. This condition is known as forced marriage, which is defined by Gill as an absence of one’s full and free consent in a marriage due to some manner of coercion.

Forced marriage still commonly occurs in Indonesia. For instance, as reported by VoA Indonesia, one of the most recent cases of forced marriage in September 2020 involved a couple of teenagers in Lombok, Nusa Tenggara Barat, who were notably underaged. They were forced to perform a marriage in the name of their customary adat law of Sasak. It enacts their young women to dispel any sexual thoughts out of wedlock. Forced marriage itself is considered as an act of sexual violence because it could presumably lead to serious offences of domestic violence or divorce, since their marriage happened without the subject’s consent. It also inflicts negative consequences on several aspects as well as their health, comprising physical, psychological, and sexual reproductive health in both the short and longterm.

Despite the fact that in order to prevent any form of forced marriage, be it compelled by their customary law, tradition, or a certain belief, Article 6 of the 1974 Marriage Law provides that a marriage should be done based on both persons’ consent, though there is no sanction in Indonesia’s law that legally binds the sexual offenders, yet. On the other hand, the government has drafted a Sexual Violence Bill known as RUU Penghapusan Kekerasan Seksual (RUU PKS) that regulates to condemn the subject of forced marriage in Article 116, which relies heavily on the legalization of this draft. It is indisputably necessary to criminalize the subjects to give them a sanction that carries a deterred effect.

The good news is, RUU PKS is being discussed again in the Program Legislasi Nasional (Prolegnas) by DPR RI in 2021 after being postponed last year. Through this regulation, we aspire that RUU PKS in DPR’s Prolegnas 2021 will not remain as mere lip service of our most honored representatives in Senayan, but also emerge as a concrete solution to resolve and seal down the hole of sexual violences, which is also contributed by the case of forced marriage that leads to a safer environment for women and the entire society.

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LEGAL AFFAIRS

PATRIARCHY: A GENDER EQUALITY’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE WRITTEN BY WINDA CLAUDIA ALSA INDONESIA

In recent decades, the issue of gender has attracted increasing attention from humanitarian actors. Achieving equity between men and women along with ensuring that there is no discrimination against women in terms of religion, life decision-making, marital or socioeconomic status, and education are some of the visions in realizing gender equality.

This is also in line with the Constitution of Human Rights No 39 Article 15, which states, “Everyone has the right to develop himself by individually and collectively protecting his rights, in the interests of developing his society, nation, and state.”. Unfortunately, discrimination against women still occurs, and this phenomenon is more sacrificed by the patriarchal culture adopted by most nations in the world.

According to koentjaraningrat, culture and ideology are not things that come down from the sky but are formed by humans then socialized from one generation to the next.

Thus, realizing gender equality in a patriarchal culture is not impossible but is indeed a long agenda. However, It amounts to changing a long-established culture. So, it can be concluded that evidently, patriarchy is not an obstacle but still a challenge for all of us as humanitarian actors. In fighting for this matter,

several things might help, one of which is humanity. Humanity can be translated, inter alia, as an endeavor to ensure respect for the human being. In line with the above, it means that, since humanity is an essential component of principled humanitarian action, so too must gender equality.

Nevertheless, neutrality is a major problem which is defined as ‘not taking sides in hostilities or engaging’. This reasoning, however, overlooks the fact that humanitarian actors also play an important role. In such circumstances, without a conscious effort to challenge patriarchy, humanitarian action may even inadvertently, contribute to perpetuating it. Therefore, we as a part of humanitarian actors must be able to contribute to decreasing the impact of patriarchy by not only showing neutrality but also take a stand in voicing and fighting for it. Moreover, society also plays an important role. By cultivating humanity in society, unconsciously both men and women start to find equity between them.

And they will respect each other. As Emma Watson once states, it is a time that we all see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing idea.

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Cultural Review

Cultural Review Credits: Alex Lancial.

There is Nothing Indonesian Women Can’t Do

Written by Edelweis Bintang Revinda ALSA INDONESIA

Credits: Gunawan Kartapranata.

Throughout history, the roles of Indonesian women have been diverse. Moving from a traditional culture where women acted solely as housewives to this modern era where women actively work in many sectors. Down below, you will see the reasons why there is nothing Indonesian women can’t do.

In Indonesian society, women have traditionally played important roles as housewives, a position still held by many women now. Being a housewife might involve managing your family’s home, taking care of your children, cleaning and maintaining the home, making foods for the family, and maybe many more depending on each household’s agreement.

Additionally, there are traditional midwives or traditional birth attendants who in Bahasa are called “dukun beranak”. This position is often held by women and the focus of their work is to assist women during childbirth. Dukun beranak may not receive formal education and training in health care provision, and there are no specific professional requisites such as certification or licensure.

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In Indonesian culture, it is a social norm for husbands to economically provide for his wife and children. In other words, a husband’s earnings are expected to be given to the wife monthly and to be managed by her for family spending and savings. However, it is normal for women to pursue economic activity. For example, warung, a small scale family-owned store, is often run by women. A warung is an essential part of daily life in Indonesia. There are many kinds of warung, some take the form of a small shop that sells cold bottled drinks, cigarettes, snacks, and other daily necessities.

Warung that sells food typically sells local food like gorengan.

Entering this modern era, Indonesian women more likely to work equally with men. For example, there are many notableIndonesian women such as the former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, the economist Sri Mulyani, gold medalist Susi Susanti, and also other women who have founded or led different organisations. Not to mention other woman who starts a company or lead an organization. No matter what role a woman plays, either as a teacher, doctor, or housewife, each of them participates in creating a better world for the future generations. See, that is why there is nothing Indonesian women can’t do.

UANG PANAI’ : THE TRADITION THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW Written by Muhammad Arfan Arif ALSA INDONESIA

The Bugis and Makassar ethnics are tribes that can be found in South Sulawesi. Although the area of origin of this tribe is in South Sulawesi, these tribes are scattered throughout Indonesia. In South Sulawesi, apart from having a lot of delicious culinary delights, this province also has a variety of cultures and traditions, one of the traditions that has drawn attention is Uang Panai'.

Uang Panai' is an amount of money that must be paid by a man to a Bugis Makassar woman whom he wants to marry. This tradition is unique and is only can be found in Bugis Makassar tribes. Before getting into the discussion of marriage, the two families first discussed how much uang panai' the man must pay to the woman. Certainly, from the point of view of many people, the tradition has become a hot debate issue nowadays.

Uang Panai’ according to its history, began when a beautiful Bugis Princess attracted the heart of a man from The Netherlands. The Dutchman was so smitten that he wanted to marry the Princess. However, the King of the Bugis kingdom at that time did not want his daughter to be touched by anyone, so the King made conditions for the Dutchman by setting an amount of money which we know today as Uang Panai '. It is intended as a form of appreciation from the male to female, but it does not burden the men because it is done sincerely and with the hard work he does. Apart from that, the actual aim was also to protect the Bugis tribal girls who wanted to be married by stranger. As time goes by, this tradition continues and remains an obligation for the Bugis Makassar tribe who wish to marry. In fact, now the amount of uang panai' takes into consideration the woman’s heredity, education, economic status, the physical condition, and work of the woman and her family.

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Cultural Review

According to the Pena Journal issued by the University of Muhammadiyah Makassar, which also criticize the idea of writing about Uang Panai’, women who only have education up to elementary school are valued at IDR 20 million, while women with education up to bachelor’s degree are valued at IDR 50 million.

However, in this era the original purpose of Uang Panai’ has shifted. Uang Panai' is now a prestige contest between families, the mindset has been built is that the higher the Uang Panai’ the prouder the family is without judging how tormented the woman or man is. The original purpose of Uang Panai’ was to protect women from the Dutches which has now turned into a very serious obstacle for women that women can’t be together with the man they love because of financial reasons. Uang Panai', which historically was paid sincerely, has now turned into a very heavy burden to carry out.

Not only this problem, also Uang Panai’ makes a very serious problem where the nominal value of panai money in this era is very irrational, even reaching billions of rupiah.

Certainly, this is very unsettling for both men and women of the Bugis Makassar tribes.

Basically, they just want to get married, but because the nominal amount that must be paid is too big, this has become a drawback.

Besides that, the women of the Bugis Makassar tribe also suffered and could gain serious effects. Bugis Makassar women will be afraid to be the best version of themselves because of fear of Uang Panai’ which will be burdensome for their sweetheart. The women of the Bugis Makassar tribe who can pursue higher education must forget their dreams because they are afraid that no man will propose to her due to the problem of Uang Panai’, even though a woman should be the best version of herself to build a nation and a state.

The role of women here is needed to solve this problem. Women as one of the harmed subjects must be able to speak up about this.

Because these days, which is the era of millennials thought that this tradition is getting more and more contra from the public. A woman must have the courage to firmly state her stance that this is a serious problem and must be reconsidered together that Uang Panai’ traditions would return to its original purpose instead making the Bugis Makassar women suffer anymore.

In my opinion, this tradition is not completely wrong if only the original purpose of the tradition does not escape from which should it be. The role of women is very vital to solving this problem. This is not an individual task; it is the duty of all of us to create a better life for Bugis Makassar women in the future.

Finally, the impact of this problem is that many couples who love each other end up running away together because they are unable to pay the nominal amount of Uang Panai'. This impact can lead to other impacts which become even bigger problems, not a few couples in Bugis Makassar choose the eloping way as their shortcut so they can get married without thinking about the amount of Uang Panai'.

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Credits: majalahteras.com.

Tari Gegerit: The Never Ending Struggle of Women WRITTEN BY VIRGINIA DIVINA ALSA INDONESIA

Indonesia is one of the countries with thousand islands in Southeast Asia. The diversity of tribes, cultures, languages, religions, and races made Indonesia become a country that is rich in culture. Indonesia has 34 provinces which spreads from Sabang to Merauke. Based on a data reported from the Indonesia Information Portal website, Indonesia has about 1,340 ethnic groups according to population census data in 2010. Besides that, according to the Laboratory of Language and Literature Diversity, Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, Indonesia has 718 regional languages recently reported in 2020. Every region in Indonesia has its own culture and tradition. This is influenced by geographical conditions in each different region and this can be proven by the existence of traditional houses, traditional clothes, traditional dances, folk songs, and regional musical instruments. From the explanation above, it shows that the Indonesian culture becomes an identity of the nation that should be preserved throughout its existence.

One of the provinces in Indonesia that is rich in culture is South Sumatra, located on the island of Sumatra which is famous for its strongrooted traditions. This region preserved a lot of its cultural heritage from their ancestors and through cultural preservation, the traditions are still in practice today. The capital of this province is Palembang, known as the oldest city in Indonesia and also known for being the host for the 2018 Asian Games sports competition.

Additionally, in 2019 the Indonesian Minister of Tourism established the province of South Sumatra as the "Center of Excellence" for sports tourism in Indonesia. This makes the province of South Sumatra gain traction among the tourists both locally and internationally. Other than that, this region is knows for its traditional cuisine named Pempek and the traditional woven fabric called Songket. As mentioned, the province of South Sumatra itself is culturally rich but not many people are aware about one of the traditional dances which has a very deep and beautiful meaning, called Tari Gegerit (Gegerit dance) that comes from Lahat regency, South Sumatra.

Historically, Gegerit dance was created by a male artist named Tambun around the 20th century. This dance idea appeared during the colonial period in Indonesia. Based on etymology, the word "Gegerit" means tired and stiff. This can be seen in dance moves that tend to be stiff and somewhat fractured. The dance moves are depicted as the dancers perform a half-squat movement while playing the wings

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Cultural Review

on the shoulders. Gegerit dance is usually performed by seven to nine female dancers.

The clothes worn when performing the Gegerit dance are traditional clothes from the Lahat area in maroon and the shoulders wearing Songket fabric designed to resemble wings. The head of the dancer is decorated using typical traditional decorations, such as Cempako, Ayun-Ayun, Pilis, and lotus. Each Gegerit dancer also carries a traditional weapon, Keris or Lading weapon. Like most traditional dances, Gegerit dance is accompanied by regional musical instruments such as Kenong, Dol, and Gendang. The rhythms produced from these instruments tend to be stomping in order to adjust the pattern of dance moves. Gegerit dance is often performed in various national and international events such as, in the Indonesian Night Market Tong Tong Festival (Tong Tong Fair) in celebrating the cultural festivities in Netherlands, Legian Beach Festival in Bali, and also some state events in Lahat Regency.

Behind every traditional dance have a meaning or message that wants to be conveyed to the audience. Gegerit dance depicts the struggle of women during the colonial period in Indonesia.

Surely this serves as a reminder to future generation of the situation and condition of women at that time. During the colonial period, women were not encouraged to get an education as opposed to men. The women of that era were only taught how to do chores well.

There is also the assumption of women being inferior to men and this further strengthens the position of men in the social-community environment. Women don't get the opportunity to have a direct role in society or to develop their potential. The reality of this period is very ironic for women.

The social reality that occurred in society showed that in those days the dichotomy of social construction was very prominent, where women were positioned as inferior beings whose levels were always below that of men.

Therefore, in the 19th century, the spirit of female emancipation was encouraged with the aim of empowering women to have same opportunities as men. Women’s emancipation figures in Indonesia among others are Raden Ajeng Kartini and Dewi Sartika. They set up a school for women in the area where they came from. Kartini founded a school called "Sekolah Wanita" (Womens School) in Jepara and Dewi Sartika founded "Sakola Istri" (Womens School) in Bandung. The lessons taught are not only limited to skills, such as cooking, sewing, crochet, but they were also taught how to read and write in order for them to be able understand and learn new science development.

The meaning behind the Gegerit dance as a symbol of women's struggle does not stop there. The development of the world that occurred continuously with the existence of globalisation gave rise to a new form of "colonisation" for women.

Advances in technology seem to imply a standard of beauty for women. As a result, the women feel frustrated or consider themselves inferior because they cannot fulfil this criteria. Not only that, there are also women who bring down other women simply because they feel superior than other women in that area. This phenomenon gained the public's attention which resulted in the initiation of the body positivity campaign to empower women. This campaign carries the theme of love and body acceptance.

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Cultural Review In this day and age, many opportunities are open for women to develop their potential. This certainly has an impact on their daily life, where women become multirole individuals. The multirole individual is seen where a woman not only plays a role in her family, but also contributes actively in society. However, it is not uncommon for this to cause controversy in the community as there are people who still think that it defies tradition where women should just be at home and take care of all household needs. This kind of thinking seems to think of women as helpless beings to which it’s the contrary where women are able to decide on complex choices and are also capable of doing complicated task. Thus, women’s freedom to act must continue to be encouraged to this day even in professions that are attached to the stigma of "men's work" to which similarly women have the ability to do those jobs. For example, security officers, racers, pilots, skippers, politicians, engineers, even CEOs can be lead by women. This certainly breaks down the stigma in a society where women must always choose between being a housewife or pursuing their ambitions. Every woman is a multirole individual where they can be a daughter, a sister, a friend, an expert in her field, a wife, a mother, a daughter-in-law, an in-laws, or a grandmother.

The theme of ALSA Magazine 1st Edition of 2021 is "Celebrating Southeast Asian Women of The Past, Present, and Future" and this theme is reflected in the meaning of Gegerit dance.

Women's struggle does not stop until a country achieves its independence but continues as long as there are obstacles for women to succeed.

The world needs a tough woman, who is not easily discouraged in any obstacles they faced.

In the future, women are expected to maintain their honor, not only about appearance, but also attitudes and speech that will definitely describe their quality and identity. Not only that, with her tenderness, a woman must protect another woman and encourage one another by giving constructive criticisms and suggestions in helping each other. Those are the attitudes that women needs from one another unlike mocking, denouncing, or insulting to the extend we forget that human beings are not perfect. With her courage and intelligence, women are expected to make breakthroughs in their respective fields especially during this current pandemic.

Women can contribute their creative ideas in growing the economy in times of financial instability of the country.

In conclusion, there are many more rich Indonesian cultures that hold thousands of meanings. The meaning of Gegerit dance extends, not only to describe the struggle of women during the colonial period, but also the struggle of women in the present and future.

This traditional dance has a very profound meaning and this meaning must be held firmly in our respective lives. Women are no longer inferior beings who seem to give up on destiny because they were born as a woman. Being a woman is something to be proud about because women can make new history in this world with their tenderness, courage, and intelligence.

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EDUCATED Written by Nurzaskia Ernita Puspa Dewi ALSA INDONESIA

Education is a powerful tool that could bring anyone anywhere. This book tells us the power of education, how it could transform one’s life, and what could cost you to get it. For Tara, it cost her her family. It made me grateful to know that some of us women around Asia don’t have to sacrifice that much to be educated. Tara lived in a society where she was told what she was going to do in life only to find that she has louder voice to be heard. This is a memoir from the author herself, a girl from Idaho who never attended school but went on to write one of the best books I have ever read!

Tara is the youngest of seven children. Gene Westover, Tara’s dad made his children live in a farmhouse with her parents. Tara and some of her siblings didn’t have birth certificate until they were nine, school records, and they weren’t even allowed to go to the hospital for religious reasons. Her father believed that his children would be brainwashed if they attended school so he wanted to keep them from what he believed was the ‘illuminati’. All her life, Tara was only taught how to read by her mother and was only exposed to the Bible stories read by her father. She never even went to the hospital due to her father’s belief that if God sent the disease, it will also be cured by Him. He believed in the Y2k catastrophe, and that the world would end on January 1st 2000, an event he prepared for but did not happen.

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by Tara Westover

There were many situations where they supposed to see the doctor for medical treatment but didn’t since their father believed it was a test from God for their family. Her mother was a self-taught herbalist and midwife, but she believed in her husband more than anything.

Things got worse in the book when we learn that Tara’s brother Shawn is abusive, best verbally or nonverbally. She lived in a very dysfunctional family in an environment you can never imagine. Days passed and Tara finally finally realized that she wanted to go to school and learn. She studied hard for her tests and although she failed once, ended up acing it before enrolling to Brigham Young University at the age of 17. Thus, connecting her with her professors and friends. During her days of studying in BYU, while she was still used to her old habits from home, she also learned that what her family had been doing was absurd.

She later had the chance to attend counseling with someone from her church and soon admitted to her professor who asked her about the holocaust on her first day when she was clueless, that she had never attended school prior to attending BYU. He then exposed Tara to opportunities she never expected before such as a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge where she eventually received her PhD. In her new life, Tara bravely cut ties with her family because she could no longer justify their extreme beliefs and behaviors.

CULTURAL REVIEW

"This book is an emotional rollercoaster, yet a powerful one.

However, I hoped that a part of this book could tell us the distinction between her ‘homeschooling life’ and her university because again the title itself is ‘Educated’, and it would have been good if she could have provided a more thorough discussion about it.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book, since it could help you reflect and be grateful to never take the privilege of being educated for granted. "

ALSA MAGAZINE 60

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About ALSA ALSA is an international consortium of over 14,000 law students and alumni located in 17 jurisdictions all over Asia. Formally established in 2002, the Association is a merger between the previous ASEAN law students association, as well as the East Asian law students association, which were two student bodies that had similar goals of fostering stronger ties and greater understanding of the different legal systems among its member Asian countries.

Recognizing their common goals, as well as the increasing onset of globalization in the region, these two associations signed an agreement in 2002, thus forming ALSA into the organization that is known to be today.

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