I refer to the Aljazeera report, “Indonesians outrage over virginity test: Education chief in Indonesian city faces anger after proposing virginity tests for students entering high schools”, August 22nd.
As clearly narrated by the said news agency:
“A proposal by an education official on Indonesia's Sumatra Island requiring female senior high school students to undergo virginity tests has been met with public outrage.
“Indonesian officials on Tuesday dismissed the proposal as excessive and unethical, with the country's education minister saying "this is not wise."
“Muhammad Rasyid, head of the education office in South Sumatra's district of Prabumulih, was the official who initially proposed the plan. He wanted to start the tests next year to discourage premarital sex and protect against prostitution. "If you want to protect your children from negative influence, there are other ways," the minister said.”
Comment:
I overwhelmingly sympathize with the public outrage generated by the utterly preposterous and undeniably barbaric proposal by the head of the education office in South Sumatra district of Parbumulih, Muhammad Rasyid.
I concur with the people’s disgust and hate of Rasyid’s proposal to require female senior high school students to undergo virginity test.
I would also like to commend the Education Minister for stating categorically that the said outrageous plan is not wise. I believe the said Minister used a somewhat mild tenor, because the correct and precise way to accurately describe the plan which is a “brain-child” of Rasyid is an idiotic plan of the highest order!
I do not know how come this creature managed to become a head of an education district.
I am questioning the wisdom and the propriety of those authorities who appointed this fellow to the said position.
How could you explain the fact that an education head could ever think, worst would even proposed the said inhumane, barbaric and preposterous plan?
Said plan in my view is barbaric by virtue of the fact that to compel and to require those senior female high school students to undergo the said test would undeniably violate their persons, their rights and their individuality.
Such arbitrary act and forceful act will also violate and trample on the Constitutional rights of those female senior high school students with regard to their bodies and persons!
The government or the state for that matter has no right whatsoever to touch the body of an individual citizen of the republic.
My body is mine and it is not the duty or the business of the authorities to touch, to intrude and worst, to check on my sensitive, private parts.
Hence, said proposal in my view is irrefutably idiotic and preposterous. It is idiotic in the sense that, it is indisputably in contravention of the constitution. Hence, by virtue of the fact that it negates and invades the rights of the individuals it is preposterous on its very face!
I fully agree with various activists in accusing “Rasyid of promoting "sexual violence against women" after he suggested the idea following the arrest of six high-school students for alleged prostitution”.
There is no shadow of doubt that the said sinister plan is a plain “discrimination and a violation of human rights”.
This stupid proposal is discriminatory by virtue of the fact that it has the nefarious potential and the dangerous tendency to deny and deprive those female students of their universal right to education.
It is on this great sense and irrefutable grounds that this ridiculous scheme will undoubtedly lead to violation of human rights.
Worst, if ever the authorities of Indonesia will allow this barbaric and preposterous plan, it will also bastardize the dignity and humanity of those individuals subject of the said plan.
I completely subscribed to the contention of Aris Merdeka Sirait of the National Commission for Child Protection when he said the plan was "just aimed for popularity."
Indeed, as Aris Merdeka Sirait said in Jakarta:
"Loss of virginity is not merely because of sexual activities. It could be caused by sports or health problems and many other factors…"
"We strongly oppose this very excessive move."
If I may just add, loss of virginity can also be due to the fact that a specific girl’s hymen is so thin that a major physical exertion such as mountain climbing or doing gymnastics or the like can lead to the rupture or destruction of the same.
Further, some women are virgin, even if one their first sexual act, they did not bleed. Why? It is because some women has thick hymen that in some instances they have to undergo a medical operation in order for their hymens to be opened by using scissors.
Questions:
How about those girls who lost their virginity because of an accident? Say, fall from a horse, or a bike or from climbing the tree?
How about those girls that were victims of rapes and sexual assaults? How about those victims of incest?
How about of those girls who voluntarily and consented/ agreed to freely engage into a sexual relationship?
Are they going to be denied their right to education?
Does it mean that if a young woman is no longer a virgin, she is immoral?
Does it also follow that if a young female student is no longer a virgin, she will not do well in school?
I do not think so!
What does virginity got to do with education? Whether or not, a woman is virgin or not is immaterial, her right to education must not be denied!
The law, whether local or international did not stipulate that education are exclusive for the pure and the innocent!
The law does not distinguished; hence that idiotic so-called head of education district has no right to make a distinction!
Education is a basic human and universal right and it is available to all regardless of their station and background in life!
A woman may be chaste or already deflowered, but it is my firm view that her morality and sense of decency cannot be reduced solely by her hymen.
Morality and ethics are not mere physical features, they are in truth and in fact, internal attributes; their source are from the individual’s inner character!
I am glad that the local authorities of Sumatra are against this stupid proposal!
I am also pleased as reported by Kate Hodal of the Guardian, “Female students in Indonesia may be forced to undergo 'virginity tests': Indonesia's education chief Muhammad Rasyid has drafted plans to 'protect children from prostitution and free sex'”, August 21st that:
“Local and national MPs, activists, rights groups and even the local Islamic advisory council have all denounced Rasyid's plan as potentially denying female students the universal right to education, in addition to targeting girls for an act that may not have even been consensual, such as sexual assault.”
The said proposed “tests would affect students seeking to enter senior high school”. In Muslim-majority Indonesia, senior high-school students are aged between 16 and 19.
As Aljazeera further reported:
In a written statement to the Jakarta Post newspaper on Wednesday, Rasyid seemed to back away from his proposal a bit.
"We never planned a virginity test for female students. We were only approving the request made by the parents of a student after she was accused of no longer being a virgin by a suspect in a human trafficking case."
Comment:
Rasyid, if you never planned a virginity test, then who the hell in the first place has brokered this stupid idea that outraged the public? What is the root cause of all these brouhaha?
Earlier, your plan is to do it with ALL of the senior female high school students in Sumatra, meaning your original plan is general; why now, you are saying a different story?
As clearly narrated by the said news agency:
“A proposal by an education official on Indonesia's Sumatra Island requiring female senior high school students to undergo virginity tests has been met with public outrage.
“Indonesian officials on Tuesday dismissed the proposal as excessive and unethical, with the country's education minister saying "this is not wise."
“Muhammad Rasyid, head of the education office in South Sumatra's district of Prabumulih, was the official who initially proposed the plan. He wanted to start the tests next year to discourage premarital sex and protect against prostitution. "If you want to protect your children from negative influence, there are other ways," the minister said.”
Comment:
I overwhelmingly sympathize with the public outrage generated by the utterly preposterous and undeniably barbaric proposal by the head of the education office in South Sumatra district of Parbumulih, Muhammad Rasyid.
I concur with the people’s disgust and hate of Rasyid’s proposal to require female senior high school students to undergo virginity test.
I would also like to commend the Education Minister for stating categorically that the said outrageous plan is not wise. I believe the said Minister used a somewhat mild tenor, because the correct and precise way to accurately describe the plan which is a “brain-child” of Rasyid is an idiotic plan of the highest order!
I do not know how come this creature managed to become a head of an education district.
I am questioning the wisdom and the propriety of those authorities who appointed this fellow to the said position.
How could you explain the fact that an education head could ever think, worst would even proposed the said inhumane, barbaric and preposterous plan?
Said plan in my view is barbaric by virtue of the fact that to compel and to require those senior female high school students to undergo the said test would undeniably violate their persons, their rights and their individuality.
Such arbitrary act and forceful act will also violate and trample on the Constitutional rights of those female senior high school students with regard to their bodies and persons!
The government or the state for that matter has no right whatsoever to touch the body of an individual citizen of the republic.
My body is mine and it is not the duty or the business of the authorities to touch, to intrude and worst, to check on my sensitive, private parts.
Hence, said proposal in my view is irrefutably idiotic and preposterous. It is idiotic in the sense that, it is indisputably in contravention of the constitution. Hence, by virtue of the fact that it negates and invades the rights of the individuals it is preposterous on its very face!
I fully agree with various activists in accusing “Rasyid of promoting "sexual violence against women" after he suggested the idea following the arrest of six high-school students for alleged prostitution”.
There is no shadow of doubt that the said sinister plan is a plain “discrimination and a violation of human rights”.
This stupid proposal is discriminatory by virtue of the fact that it has the nefarious potential and the dangerous tendency to deny and deprive those female students of their universal right to education.
It is on this great sense and irrefutable grounds that this ridiculous scheme will undoubtedly lead to violation of human rights.
Worst, if ever the authorities of Indonesia will allow this barbaric and preposterous plan, it will also bastardize the dignity and humanity of those individuals subject of the said plan.
I completely subscribed to the contention of Aris Merdeka Sirait of the National Commission for Child Protection when he said the plan was "just aimed for popularity."
Indeed, as Aris Merdeka Sirait said in Jakarta:
"Loss of virginity is not merely because of sexual activities. It could be caused by sports or health problems and many other factors…"
"We strongly oppose this very excessive move."
If I may just add, loss of virginity can also be due to the fact that a specific girl’s hymen is so thin that a major physical exertion such as mountain climbing or doing gymnastics or the like can lead to the rupture or destruction of the same.
Further, some women are virgin, even if one their first sexual act, they did not bleed. Why? It is because some women has thick hymen that in some instances they have to undergo a medical operation in order for their hymens to be opened by using scissors.
Questions:
How about those girls who lost their virginity because of an accident? Say, fall from a horse, or a bike or from climbing the tree?
How about those girls that were victims of rapes and sexual assaults? How about those victims of incest?
How about of those girls who voluntarily and consented/ agreed to freely engage into a sexual relationship?
Are they going to be denied their right to education?
Does it mean that if a young woman is no longer a virgin, she is immoral?
Does it also follow that if a young female student is no longer a virgin, she will not do well in school?
I do not think so!
What does virginity got to do with education? Whether or not, a woman is virgin or not is immaterial, her right to education must not be denied!
The law, whether local or international did not stipulate that education are exclusive for the pure and the innocent!
The law does not distinguished; hence that idiotic so-called head of education district has no right to make a distinction!
Education is a basic human and universal right and it is available to all regardless of their station and background in life!
A woman may be chaste or already deflowered, but it is my firm view that her morality and sense of decency cannot be reduced solely by her hymen.
Morality and ethics are not mere physical features, they are in truth and in fact, internal attributes; their source are from the individual’s inner character!
I am glad that the local authorities of Sumatra are against this stupid proposal!
I am also pleased as reported by Kate Hodal of the Guardian, “Female students in Indonesia may be forced to undergo 'virginity tests': Indonesia's education chief Muhammad Rasyid has drafted plans to 'protect children from prostitution and free sex'”, August 21st that:
“Local and national MPs, activists, rights groups and even the local Islamic advisory council have all denounced Rasyid's plan as potentially denying female students the universal right to education, in addition to targeting girls for an act that may not have even been consensual, such as sexual assault.”
The said proposed “tests would affect students seeking to enter senior high school”. In Muslim-majority Indonesia, senior high-school students are aged between 16 and 19.
As Aljazeera further reported:
In a written statement to the Jakarta Post newspaper on Wednesday, Rasyid seemed to back away from his proposal a bit.
"We never planned a virginity test for female students. We were only approving the request made by the parents of a student after she was accused of no longer being a virgin by a suspect in a human trafficking case."
Comment:
Rasyid, if you never planned a virginity test, then who the hell in the first place has brokered this stupid idea that outraged the public? What is the root cause of all these brouhaha?
Earlier, your plan is to do it with ALL of the senior female high school students in Sumatra, meaning your original plan is general; why now, you are saying a different story?