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President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Monday his government would strive to give equal treatment to women.

“We must not repeat the same mistakes, but instead treat women equally,” the president said during a national forum, titled “Four Decades of Violence Against Women in the Country’s Journey.” The event was organized by the National Commission on Violence Against Women to mark its 10th anniversary.

Yudhoyono said he hoped more women would be able to serve as cabinet ministers in his government.

“In the United Indonesia Cabinet today there are five women, but that ratio is still inadequate, still not balanced,” he said. “In the future there should be perhaps 10 [female] ministers out of about 34 ministers in the cabinet.”

He said his cabinet would empower women working in small and medium enterprises by prioritizing them in receiving assistance next year.

“We have allocated Rp 100 trillion [$10.6 billion] for small and medium enterprises and we are prioritizing women to receive the assistance, as businesses run by women very rarely fail and are clean from corruption,” he said. “I am sure this is going to give them [women] a good future.”

But Yudhoyono said the road to eliminating all forms of discrimination against women remained long as the country was in a transition period.

Kamala Chandrakirana, the commission’s chairwoman, asked the president to show his support by helping to end the stigmatization of female victims of violence.

“Policies stigmatizing women victims of violence should be revoked,” she said. “We also want the government to establish a fair legal system that is sensitive to women and able to guarantee the fulfillment of the rights of [female] victims of violence.”

During the forum, Kamala presented a report to the president on violence against women over the past four decades.

In response, the president asked related ministers to communicate with the commission and the National Commission on Human Rights to analyze and respond to the report.

“We have to follow up on this matter not only in terms of policies, but also decide on actions that should be taken in the next five years,” Yudhoyono said.