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Jakarta. The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) said on Wednesday there were still plenty of bylaws discriminating against women, despite the state’s promise to eradicate such policies.

“After he was re-elected, [President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono] said eradicating discriminatory bylaws would be a priority,” said Andy Yentriyani, a commissioner at the agency. “But instead of decreasing, the number of these kinds of bylaws is getting bigger,” she said.

Last year, Komnas Perempuan criticized the state for its failure to repeal 154 bylaws nationwide that were considered discriminatory — 64 of which hampered women’s rights to free expression and gainful employment.

Since 1999, the group has found 200 bylaws that it said suppressed women’s rights.

Since last year, various state institutions have either proposed or passed a total of 62 new policies that can violate women’s rights, Andy said.

As an example, she cited a West Aceh policy that prohibits Muslim women from wearing certain types of clothing.

“The mayor of West Aceh used the regional budget to buy skirts for women because, apparently, wearing jeans was not allowed,” Andy said. “This is ridiculous.”

The commissioner also criticized a provincial lawmaker’s proposal to have teenaged girls undergo virginity tests before they enter state schools.

Such discriminatory policies, she says, are often used by politicians who want to appear morally righteous in order to gain public support or sympathy.

She said some bylaws were issued out of “moral panic.”

Some lawmakers, she says, craft laws out of fear that their families or children will be exposed to immoral acts.

“It’s sad that some bylaws were products of the naivete of the politicians or the lawmakers,” Andy said.

Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, however, denied that discriminatory bylaws existed in Indonesia.

Despite regional autonomy, he said, the central government still had the authority to filter laws for questionable content.

“If we find anything discriminative in the bylaw draft, of course we can annul it,” he said.

“The real question is which bylaw is considered discriminative? By whom? We have to understand clearly whether the bylaw was issued to restrict women or even to protect them, and the issue is still debatable,” he said on Wednesday.

Gamawan says provinces like Aceh and Papua have been granted special autonomy.

He says provinces are generally allowed to issue any bylaw that reflects local norms or traditions, as long as it does not run counter to the public interest.

“Nyepi (Day of Silence) in Bali is not considered discriminatory, right? So the regulation for women to wear skirts in West Aceh must also be respected,” he said.