Conditions of possibilities: the story of
women in ormas organizations in East
Kalimantan
Msc thesis Contemporary Asian Studies Graduate School of Social Sciences
University of Amsterdam
Student: Charlotte Henrieke Francien Troost Email: lottetroost@hotmail.com
Student number: 11782587
Supervisor: Dhr. Dr. Laurens Bakker Second reader: Mw. Dr. Yatun Sastramidjaja Date of submission: 29 June 2018
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Acknowledgements1
First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor dr. Laurens Bakker for his guidance during the research and writing phase. His supportive and critical feedback have been of great value for bundling all the data into one coherent piece.
Furthermore, this thesis would not have been possible without the help of all my informants in East Kalimantan, who were willing to share their stories with me and who enabled me to get insight into their lives and these of their ormas fellows. I would like to express my special
appreciation for Mei Christy, Yulita Lestiawati and Lampang Bilung, who accompanied me with great hospitality during the research period.
I would also like to thank the staff and students of Universitas Balikpapan, for providing me a special study room in their university building and for helping me with issues related to visa, translation and transport. Without their helpful assistance and their network, it would have been more challenging to access to actual field to conduct my fieldwork.
Last but not least, I am very grateful to my father, mother, brother and my close friends for their encouragement, inspiration and (financial) support during the years of my studies and for always hearing me out whenever I faced difficult moments. Special thanks go to my friend and classmate Aimée van Ham (2018), with whom I cooperated during the fieldwork. Living together with her in Balikpapan contributed to a very successful and enjoyable research period.
1The picture on the title page was taken after an interview with Magdalena, the lady in the middle with the Dayak headband. She is
the chairwoman of KAWAN GEPAK, the women’s unit of local indigenous ormas GEPAK. The interview (and the rest of the research period) was conducted in cooperation with Van Ham (2018), who writes among others on the effect of participation in ormas on women’s position in their domestic environment. I will refer to her in case of similar topics or in case she offers a more elaborate explanation on a certain topic. 15 January 2018.
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Abstract
This thesis combines data resulting from three months of fieldwork in the Indonesian city Balikpapan and literature on the socio-political context of East Kalimantan to explore and
explain the rising prominence of women in ormas, or societal organizations, in the province. More specifically, this thesis focusses on the various aspects of women’s activism in such groups. This seems to be a peculiar phenomenon at first sight when one considers the historical configuration of preman, or gangsters, where these organizations base their legitimacy on. As part of the aspects of activism, personal and demographic dimensions in the background of female members, their motivations to join ormas, the activities they engage in once being a member and their agency related to these activities are topics of concern. It turns out these are all related to each other and offer the reader a broad picture of women in ormas in Kalimantan. The reasonable amount of Dayak women in ormas, alongside issues of divorce and domestic violence as important aspects of women’s activism in ormas, are embedded in the wider socio-political context of East Kalimantan. This context influences the position of indigenous women and creates feelings of marginalization among them. In relation to this, activism in ormas, especially the women’s units, offer these women conditions of possibilities to address and give response to their feelings of
marginalization in several ways. Hence, it reveals that women consider membership in ormas partly different than men do.
Statement of originality
This document is written by student Charlotte Henrieke Francien Troost, who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document. I have read and understood the University of Amsterdam plagiarism policy. I declare that the text and the work presented in this document are entirely my own work and that no sources other than those acknowledged in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The Graduate School of Social Sciences of University of Amsterdam is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents. I have not previously submitted this work, or any version of it, for assessment in any other paper.
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Table of contents
Acknowledgements --- 1
Abstract ---2
Chapter 1: Introduction ---5
1a. Women in ormas: a peculiar phenomenon ---5
1b. Applicable theories ---9
1c. Research question and sub questions ---12
1d. Outline of the thesis ---12
1e. Research methodology ---13
i. Introduction ---13
ii. Methods ---13
iii. Ethics ---15
Chapter 2: Background ---17
2a. Introduction ---17
2b. The socio-political context of Balikpapan and East Kalimantan ---17
i. An outline of the research area and its society --- 17
ii. A note on economy --- 18
iii. A note on politics of land and identity ---19
2c. Ormas in a wider setting of vigilante groups and social movements --- 21
i. Historical development of ormas organizations --- 23
2d. Women’s activism in Indonesia in historical perspective ---25
i. Early stages of women’s activism ---25
ii. The militant mothers of Gerwani ---27
iii. Ideas of womanhood as set by the state ---28
iv. Women’s position in post-Suharto society ---29
v. Gender relations among indigenous people in East Kalimantan ---32
Chapter 3: Envisioning women in ormas in East Kalimantan and their motivations for joining these groups ---35
3a. Introduction ---35
3b. The women in ormas: personal and demographic dimensions ---35
3c. Motivations in biographical trajectories of ormas women --- 38
3d. Conclusion --- 44
Chapter 4: Engagement and agency ---46
4a. Introduction ---46
4b. Activities performed by women ---46
i. Ormas women’s units as platform for women’s issues --- 49
4c. How women obtain agency for their activities --- 51
4d. Conclusion --- 52
Chapter 5: Issues of land conflicts, domestic violence and divorce as influencers for mobilization --- 55
4a. Introduction ---55
4b. Multiple challenges of New Order politics: being woman and being indigenous ---55
4c. Land conflicts and transmigration ---56
4d. Domestic violence and divorce ---58
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4f. Conclusion ---64
Chapter 6: Analysis and conclusion: ormas as a desirable option for women in East Kalimantan ---65
Annexes ---68
Annex 1: List of terms and acronyms --- 68
Annex 2: topic list ---70
Annex 3: Survey Srikandi members ---72
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1. Introduction
a. Women in
ormas:
a peculiar phenomenon“My ex-husband was addicted to narcotics, wherefore we had a lot of financial troubles. Preman2 were constantly knocking at our door to ask for money. The situation worsened, my husband started to abuse me and in the end I tried to commit suicide twice. Both times I survived, which made me realize God has a different plan for me and that I should do something with that plan. I also want to be there for my son, to ensure him a good future here in East Kalimantan. My traumatic past and surviving a violent husband created the “I don’t care mentality,” which helped me to climb up in the ormas I joined by that time. The ormas serves as a platform for me to forget my traumatic past, to develop my self-esteem that was totally gone after what happened and to get protection from those money-asking preman.”3
The need to deal with a traumatic past, the new opportunities for (personal) development after what happened and the sense of protection that my informant expressed in our interview above, captures the conditions that influenced this woman to become active in ormas. It shows both a social asset, the mentality of “I don’t care,” that enabled this woman agency to act as she did, and captures some of the various motivations of women to join ormas. Analysis on motivations can eventually reveal how ormas function as a conduit for women to express their feelings of marginalization, stemming from such issues as land conflicts, domestic abuse, divorce-ship and subsequent failure of government to address these. For women to join such groups is not unique. Research on women’s activism in Latin American guerilla movements indicated while men and women share personal and collective motivations to join such movements, women also have different, women-specific reasons to join (e.g. Kampwirth 2002; Leanna Henshaw 2016; Lobao 1990; Roberto-Caéz 2014; Stephen 1997). High rates of domestic violence and abuse hold as common reasons for women to mobilize themselves into guerilla movements, to seek protection and to get new opportunities after what happened (Kampwirth 2002; Lobao 1990; Roberto-Cáez 2014: 17).
Using data collected during three months of fieldwork in Balikpapan, it is my aim to address the aspects of women’s activism in ormas in East Kalimantan. Recurring personal and demographic dimensions in the background of the women, the most common motivations for women to join ormas, the activities they engage in once being an ormas member and how they obtain agency for their activities are the aspects of concern throughout this thesis. As the
2 For an elaborate explanation of the term preman, see chapter 2.
3 Interview with a female member of the women’s unit of a local indigenous ormas. For the sake of protection and privacy, names
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fieldwork showed, these are all interrelated and eventually captured the broad picture of women in ormas in East Kalimantan. As part of these aspects, I will also concentrate on grievances in the wider socio-political context East Kalimantan that have influenced the position of indigenous women in East Kalimantan and have created feelings of marginalization among them, whereupon they consider involvement in ormas.
Although most attention will be on the women and the personal stories that have brought them in ormas, the reader will also get insight into ormas organizations.
Ormas is an abbreviation for organisasi kemasyarakatan (community organization).
Grammatically, ormas denotes both the singular as well as the plural. These non-state, civil
organizations are spread throughout Indonesia and claim to exist by and represent social, political and economic deprived actors. Improvement of welfare and acquiring support of the local population is pursued through social activities and securitization4 (Bakker 2015: 81; 2016:
251-262). Members and ormas’ immediate communities regard these groups as courageous
representatives of the oppressed and those in need of help. However, during the fieldwork it turned out that others in society are more ambivalent towards ormas, since many of these organizations are historically organized according to military examples and have the potential to use oppressive, intimidating or even violent methods to reach their goals. “The perception of society of today’s ormas is sometimes still negative, as being brutal and easy to use violence. This is caused by individuals in the ormas who pursue their own interests or just want to show off their power.”5
These groups base their legitimacy on the historic configuration of preman, which means “thug” or “gangster.” Preman showed their physical strength and masculine values such as courage and virility to dominate all spheres of life and to enforce respect and awe, which fitted the national state’s gender ideology. Interviews and observations indicated that heteronormative forms of masculinity and military symbolism are nowadays still part of ormas’ performative style, as these seem effective to get things done (quickly). Until today, a visual search on the internet yields almost nothing but pictures of groups of men, suited in (military-style) uniform, shouting, demonstrating and emphasizing their masculine identity by showing their physical strength.
Women’s prominence in such groups seems to be a peculiar phenomenon. Women taking over leadership within these groups even seem less likely. As it seems to be a recent phenomenon, research on female ormas members would have been more challenging a couple of
4 Examples include deterrence of outside parties from disturbing one’s own event or being hired to do this for political parties’
events, while being dressed in camouflage outfit, marching and chanting to demonstrate military-like authority. Other examples include maintaining order and providing protection of own property (such as land) (Bakker 2015: 81).
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years ago, when the female gender was largely underrepresented or even absent within these groups.
Where are the women? Picture taken during GEPAK meeting, Balikpapan. 13 January 2018.
Ormas recently started to aim to disassociate themselves from being identified with crime
and lawlessness. They try to ensure a broader membership to show that ormas exist for all people rather than solely for young, muscled men (Bakker 2015: 84). They tend to focus more on civil society, involvement in social services and better internal and external communication (Wilson 2006). Besides, reference to local identities and restoring territorial power in terms of ethnic identities have increasingly become discourses to mobilize support, which will be of extra significance for the ormas of focus in this thesis on East Kalimantan (Wilson 2015: 61).
In relation to this, during the fieldwork I discovered that women’s prominence in ormas has been on the rise since the past few years. There seems to be a changing position of women in executing ormas activities and providing security, as I even encountered some women who are local leaders of prominent groups. So far, no research has been conducted on women’s
participation in ormas in East Kalimantan. In terms of (male) membership in ormas not that much material is available either (e.g. Wilson 2015). It is thus unclear who these women are, what diverse issues and motivations caused them to mobilize in ormas and how they participate in
ormas. To fill these lacunas in studies on ormas, I aim to address the various aspects of women’s
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It turned out that many (female) members I interviewed are Dayak and very much profile themselves as such. Especially for the local indigenous ormas I encountered, reference to local, ethnic (Dayak) identity and operating from an indigenous solidarity appear to be important factors. In addition, by the state formulated notions on gender relations and womanhood influenced by Javanese culture of patriarchy and Islamic religion are partly localized and thus diversified across the archipelago (Hermansson 2014: 15-16; Robinson 2008). Therefore, these notions will be analyzed in the specific socio-political context they operate in, which explains my considerable attention for (gender among) Dayak. Hence, this thesis contributes to the limited research on gender among Dayak and (incentives for) women’s activism within and among indigenous communities in East Kalimantan (e.g. Haug 2017a).
More specifically, it focusses on grievances that are transformed by women into motivations for activism and offers insight into the (changing) position of indigenous (Dayak) women in East Kalimantan.
Although women’s concerns and their reasons to become active in ormas are embedded in the socio-political context they operate in, their activism is also determined by the wider pattern of power and gender relations in Indonesian society (Connell 2009; Robinson 2008). The diverse ethnic composition and the settlement of migrants coming from other islands that mark the region my informants operate in, plays an important role in this. Grasping why and how women’s mobilization into ormas in East Kalimantan occurs and comparing this to what is said about women’s position and their activism in Indonesia more generally might therefore be significant in terms to wider debates on where the Indonesian stands nowadays.
Democratization and increased freedom of speech in post-Suharto Indonesia have resulted in diversifying expressions and ideas on gender. Orthodox or even extremist (Wahhabi-Salafi) voices in Islam, seeking for a conservative turn in all aspects of life, including the aim to control and domesticate women and take away their potential to have a leading position over men have become quite prominent (Clark 2008: 46). Although this takes place on a national scale, it might be significant in the local context as well. 20 out of 36 ormas members I interviewed are Muslims and religious (Islamic) ormas are part of my study. Contrary to these voices, space as gendered that distinguishes the masculine (public sphere) from the feminine (private sphere) has become more unraveled because of increased public advocacy on gender equality. It has among others resulted in a higher female labor force participation and increased access for women to education and health (Blackburn 2004). The increased visibility and influence of female
politicians such as ex-president Megawati and ministers Susi Pudjiastuti of maritime affairs and fisheries, Sri Mulyani of finance and Retno Marsudi of foreign affairs, are other developments.
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Although Suryakusuma (1996: 150) and some of my informants consider their presence and voices in the public sphere not necessarily synonymous with realizing gender equality or
addressing women’s issues, many other male and female informants considered their presence to be an indicator for the improved position of women in Indonesian society since it shows
women’s agency in the public sphere (see also Rinaldo 2008: 1792-1798; Robinson and Bessell 2002: 2-3).
b. Applicable theories
The introduction above and the research questions below focus on the recurring concepts activism, motivation, agency, social and cultural capital. This section will discuss these concepts by means of what I consider the most applicable theories to understand how these concepts are used in my study on women’s activism in ormas.
As people can engage in activism for various reasons and underlying meanings, the term activism has a broad usage. In the basic form it is approached as “the conducted” or as a division of behavior (van Doorn-Harder 2006: 37). However, I discovered specific reasons whereby activism of the women in my research arises, such as addressing and giving response to their feelings of marginalization. Therefore, in the chapters discussing the fieldwork data I will take into consideration Maddison and Scalmer’s (2006: 47) more specific definition of activism as a range of activities that aim to influence outcomes. It turns out that women’s interest in new social contacts, or even the creation of a sisterhood, forms an important part of their (motivation for) activism, which is confirmed by Tarrow’s (2011: 9) theory on activism as an expression of challenges based on social solidarities. Divorce, domestic violence and threatened tribal Dayak identity are shared conditions that foster women’s solidarity and eventually transform
sympathizing into activism (Van Stekelenburg and Klandermans 2013). These conditions also account for a psychological force that enables activism, which is defined as motivation. This demand-side of activism means focus on individuals and their motives, which shows how the aspects of activism in my research question are related (Klandermans 2015: 1; Touré-Tillery and Fishbach 2014).
Motivation refers to one’s inner drive, described as wishes, decisions and urges, which eventually stimulate one’s interest in an activity in social and relational processes (Berelson and Steiner 1964). Besides motivations that arise from collective purposes and those that men and women have in common, interviews indicated that women in ormas also have specific personal interests to complete (a) certain goal(s) that hold as motivating factor(s) to join ormas. Touré-Tillery and Fishbach (2014: 328) define this as outcome-focused motivation. Added to that, I
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argue that motivation and goal are inseparable linked: motivation will diminish once the goal is completed. Siska exemplifies this in our interview on p. 62.
Interviews further revealed that issues related to the socio-political context of East Kalimantan, such as land conflicts and threatened tribal Dayak identity influence the position of women whereupon they consider activism in ormas. Therefore, I consider Klandermans’ (2015: 2) theory on motivation to be applicable here. Klandersmans argues that grievances form the bases of motivation to action, whereby he defines grievances as “outrage about the way authorities are treating a social problem.” In a sense the section in which I will discuss some mishandlings of government/police wherefore women are more inclined to become involved in ormas applies to this definition of grievances. Also illegitimate inequality as a division of grievance, which entails the feeling of deprivation that results from comparing one’s situation with one’s past or an ideological standard such as justice, will come back (Klandermans 2015: 2). However, as will become clear in the chapters discussing women’s motivation and East Kalimantan-related influences for mobilization, I will expand on this theory of motivation by taking into consideration instrumentality and identity as two important principles of motivation
(Klandermans 2015: 6). Instrumentality refers to the motivation to influence one’s social and political environment, which I will prove by discussing among others women’s political
aspirations and their engagement in social activities. The principle identity refers to motivation to express identity or to identify with a group, which for instance applies to the situation of the indigenous Dayak women in my research who consider ormas, especially the network it offers, as a venue to retrieve their lost identity and to again take ownership of their own lives. Guyer’s (2007: 409) theory on consonance, wherein he discusses “the reach of thought and imagination, of planning and hoping, of tracing out mutual influences, of engaging in struggles for specific (personal) goals,” will be taken into consideration when discussing the women’s units. More specifically, the potential of these units of “tracing out mutual influences,” which offers me insight into the grievances experienced by women.
As part of this research I am concerned with the question how women obtain agency for the activities they engage in. Agency is defined as the ability of an individual to set goals, or motivations in case of this thesis’ focus, and to subsequently be able to act on behalf of what you value (Melucci 1996; Kabeer 1999: 438). Agency as “the ability to do” applies to the situation in which agents implement a kind of direct control or guidance over their own behavior to shape the circumstances in which they live (Oakley 2001; Wilson and Sphall 2012). As the focus will be on women entering the male-associated domain of ormas, an important circumstance will concern gender relations. This entails a culturally constructed category of gender, whereof different
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experiences (domination and subordination) can be identified and are revealed in social
institutions such as the state. This happened in practice with Suharto’s New Order politics that will be discussed later (Agarwal 1997: 1; Amalo 2014: 24-25). Interviews indicated that especially in situations vis-à-vis the male gender, women have certain assets like skills, values, behavior and knowledge that are used as the grassroot aspect of expanding their “ability to do” (Bourdieu 1985). Also Van Stekelenburg and Klandermans (2013) argue that activism includes a mix of material resources and specific cognitive and structural conditions. Narayan (2005: 5-6)
subdivides these assets into individual and collective assets. The former can be human, political, psychological and social assets, and all together conceptualized as cultural capital (Bourdieu 1985). All of these assets came to the fore when I asked the women how they obtain agency “to do.” Studies of Kampwirth (2002) and Lobao (1990) on female guerilla members in Latin
America, identified increasing awareness of feminist issues, charisma, class, previous membership in social networks, youth and family connections (and support of them) and internal
organizational characteristics like male-female relationships as beneficial indicators for the women in their research to obtain agency.
Narayan (2005: 11-12) discusses collective assets to obtain agency in relation to social capital. Bourdieu’s (1985) theory on social capital as membership in an organization that offers network and enables collective action, which eventually gives profits in the material (the increase of one’s potential access to resources and economic opportunities) as well as in the symbolic (status, confidence) will return in relation to women’s motivation to join ormas (Bourdieu 1985).
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c. Research question and sub questions
As this thesis aims to address the various aspects of women’s activism in ormas in East Kalimantan and intends to highlight some of the major issues in East Kalimantan whereof I suspect that these influence women to become active in ormas, the research question will be:
“What are the aspects of women’s activism in ormas in East Kalimantan, in terms of their motivations and the ways in which they engage in these organizations?”
To address the aspects, this question will be supported by the sub-questions:
(1) What are recurring personal and demographic dimensions in the background of female
ormas members?
(2) What are common motivating factors to be discovered in the biographical trajectory of women who join ormas?
(3) How do these women obtain agency within the organization?
(4) How does the socio-political context of East Kalimantan influence these women to become involved in ormas?
d. Outline of the thesis
This thesis will be divided into six chapters. The present chapter introduces the topic, discusses the most applicable theories to understand the concepts that are used throughout this thesis and reviews the research methodology that was used during the research period. The second chapter will provide background, to understand the socio-political context women in ormas operate in and to understand male domain of ormas they are operating in. Discussion of the historical
developments of gender, women’s activism and their position in Indonesian society will also clarify the conditions my respondents operate in. Chapter two will also zoom into the position of women among Dayak and show its relevance in relation to women’s activism in ormas.
Chapter three and four will present the research findings that provide answers to the sub questions. These chapters will address common dimensions in the background of the women, frequent motivations, the activities women engage in and how they obtain agency for doing these activities. Chapter five zooms in on the socio-political context of East Kalimantan, to connect some of the previous discussed motivations and background dimensions to resource conflicts in the region, stemming from several issues whereof I suspect these constitute influential incentives for women to become involved in ormas. The last chapter will cover analysis of and conclusion on the previous chapters, so that the reader comprehends why joining ormas makes sense for women in East Kalimantan.
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e. Research methodology
i. Introduction
From January 2018 till end of March 2018 I conducted fieldwork in Balikpapan, the second city of East Kalimantan, Indonesia, to gather empirical material for my research question. Balikpapan as research location was a clear choice for me, since the city hosts around 86 ormas organizations.6
Moreover, my supervisor Laurens Bakker from the University of Amsterdam already conducted research on ormas in East Kalimantan for many years and has therefore built a wide network in Balikpapan. This made it easier to settle down in this city, to get access to these groups and to continue with working on the lacuna in (t)his study on ormas; women.
ii. Methods
During the fieldwork period, I combined the qualitative research methods of semi-structured interviews, observations, surveys and content analysis of social media. The former served as a proper method for gaining a deeper, more detailed understanding my informants values and views in relation to ormas (Bryman 2016). In total, 55 interviews were conducted, including some following-up interviews to conduct life histories. The interviews enabled me to unpack individual stories about members’ experiences rather than narrating their experiences by myself (Stephen 1997). The following-up interviews also served as a welcome method to filter out socially desirable answers, or the social desirability bias, sometimes given in previous interviews (Fisher 1993: 303). For example, when I asked male leaders how they feel about women joining their
ormas, they often answered positively during a first meeting. During a second encounter,
informants were already more used to my role as a researcher, wherefore I could better uncover their real thoughts about the participation of women. These turned out to be more ambiguous than they initially expressed to me.
Whereas most interviews were conducted in Balikpapan, nine interviews were done in Samarinda, as some ormas of my interest did not yet have a (women’s) department in Balikpapan. Some interviews took place in the houses of my informants, which provided a welcome
opportunity to explore the conditions under which my informants live and how they are distributed in other aspects of society (Harvey 2011).
The primary group of interviewees consisted of 25 women who join national, religious or local indigenous ormas. The second group consisted of 11 male members of the different types of
ormas. I ranked the primary and secondary group based on gender, but also with the strategy to be
6 This amount was mentioned by the head of police units Balikpapan during the opening speech of “Alliansi ormas daerah dan
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able to triangulate answers from the primary group with the secondary group and vice versa, especially in case of gender-specific questions. Informants from the primary and secondary group occupy positions varying from member to chairman/chairwoman and join national, religious or local indigenous ormas. Besides, research on the local appearances of these different groups reveals how they are all concerned with local matters of the region they operate in, despite their local, religious or national type. This approach avoided a too narrow focus on just one specific type of ormas, which could have called into question whether the findings on women’s activism in
ormas are consistent across all types of ormas present in East Kalimantan.
Prior to each interview, I went through a topic list to remind myself what themes my questions should cover (see annex 2). This turned out to be a useful method in case the
informant did not understand a question, such as these asking for a description of personality, so that I could choose to ask other related questions. Questions were centered around three main themes: background, biographical trajectory towards membership (including motivation and roles models) and activities (including obtaining agency for activities and beneficial resources of power to obtain agency). By means of triangulation interviews with seven non-ormas women and four non-ormas men, who form as outsiders the third group of informants, I could test data from the interviews with ormas members. Bakker (2015: 80) already applied this method of speaking to the opposition (e.g. activists, government officials, police, local people) in his research on ormas.
All interviews were translated on the spot by a female English literature student of the university of Balikpapan (UniBa) or by the rector of UniBa. He previously joined local indigenous
ormas GEPAK, wherefore he and his network often helped me to get in contact with his old ormas fellows. After being introduced to them, I personally asked the members for contacts
details of other members, wherefore approaching new informants started to work like a snowball effect. I generally felt that the presence of an interpreter who accompanied me did not have negative effects on respondents, as I made sure that interviews with women on topics that fall into the category of sensitive research, like domestic violence and divorce-ship, were interpreted by a woman and took place under the right circumstances, like a quiet room. I took notes in my phone of all answers. This method rather than recording the interview and translating it
afterwards, enabled me to more actively participate in the interview and to directly come up with following-up questions or to go back to previous answers since I had an overview of the answers in my phone. While processing the data afterwards, I tried to make sure that sensitive
information could not be retrieved to the individual respondent and do harm to him/her, by storing it safely and not mentioning the name.
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I also conducted 22 surveys (in Indonesian language) among members of Srikandi, the women’s unit of PP (see annex 3). These surveys consisted of nine open questions, to get insight into among others background dimensions, motivations to join ormas, their journey towards
membership, ambitions, their roles in the household and the (gender)relation with their husband (if).
Observation of events, meetings or ceremonies organized or frequented by ormas provided me a prolonged immersion in the field by seeing through the eyes of participants in
ormas, rather than to explore what they say they do (Bryman 2016). In total, I observed nine
events while joining as a participant. Three were frequented by ormas members and six were organized by ormas members. In all cases, I was invited by my informant(s) to join the event. Attending and observing these events enabled me to more specifically look at how women are distributed in ormas in terms of roles and activities, how they behave and whether their
performances differs when they mingle with the men or when they are among women only. In this way, I could test or complement data from the interviews. Examples of events I joined for observation are a meeting of the local ormas GEPAK in Balikpapan and the ceremony “Aliansi
ormas daerah dan OPK,” which celebrated cooperation between the police, local ormas and the
religious ormas GP Ansor.
During observations and interviews it turned out that social media play an important role in the visibility of ormas and its members, wherefore I conducted content analysis of some social media channels like Facebook and Instagram. Studying my informant’s online posted texts and pictures, provided insight into their opinions and concerns, their activities, and how they use signs and symbols of the ormas.
iii. Ethics
An essential ethical principle during the fieldwork was the voluntary consent of my informants. Beforehand, they were asked permission for interviewing them and writing down the notes in my phone. Also prior to the interviews, observations and surveys, I tried to ensure trust of the informants by informing them about my role as researcher, my research interests and research purposes. However, I aimed to do this in such a way that it would not alter the responses and participation of my informants to suit my research interests and purposes. Also during the observations, I did not hide my position as a student with interest in ormas. Although my informants had different religious, ethnic and cultural backgrounds wherefore their norms and values on certain aspects of life sometimes differed from mine, I tried to respect them and to
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treat them as individuals with dignity, as equal to each other and without stereotypical representations or assumptions about agency.
To do benefit to the research area, I aimed to share data of which the women could use to reflect on their own position and opportunities within the organization, such as these on division of tasks between men and women in ormas,. I also discussed data that could be beneficial for the
ormas to reflect on their performances and the outcome of these within the region they operate in,
such as the perception outsiders have on them. While doing this, I kept in mind that this could unintentionally have led to the ethical issue of sparking criticism; reflection of the informant on his/her own position that might create feelings of inferiority and missed opportunities in life. Therefore, I tried to carefully balance my questions in interviews and life histories. For example, I discussed the questions that were asked during interviews.
To guarantee my own safety during the fieldwork period, I made sure that interviews (with men) took place in public places. Therefore, many interviews were conducted in coffee bars. Meeting my informants in a coffee bar also enabled me to do something in return for them, by paying for drinks and snacks.
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Chapter 2: background
a. Introduction
This chapter will among others provide background information on the socio-political context of East Kalimantan, which is essential to understand the conditions the women in my research operate in and to understand how issues that are giving response to through ormas have formed over the years. Capturing how women’s activism in Indonesia and their position in Indonesian society have historically developed, will help to understand what is happening on the ground in terms of today’s women’s activism in East Kalimantan and whether (or not) this their activism adds something new to debates about women’s position. Focus will also be on gender relations among Dayak, to provide a more localized understanding of the position of most of my
respondents. The sections on the (visible) character ormas and its historical development will explain why women’s presence in such groups is quite surprising and just a recent phenomenon.
b. The socio-political context of Balikpapan and East Kalimantan
i. An outline of the research area and its society
After Samarinda, Balikpapan is the second biggest city in the Eastern province of Indonesian Borneo, or Kalimantan. It has a total of five provinces: central, east, north, south and west. The western and southern province are the most densely populated. Contrastingly, the eastern province is one of the least populated province throughout Indonesia despite having the second largest surface (Schiller 2007: 70).
Balikpapan has a reported population of around 640.000 people (Scott et al. 2016). Most people are Muslim, followed by a large Christian population. The inhabitants are very diverse in terms of ethnicity, due to the large amount of job seeking Indonesian immigrants who have come to the city to work in activities related to petroleum and timber. From the 4,5% annual
population growth registered in 2016, 3% was caused by immigrants (Scott et al. 2016). The Javanese and people from Sulawesi, especially the Bugis and Toraja, constitute the majority of inhabitants. Also the Banjarnese, from the southern province of Kalimantan, form a large group. The rest of the province is also marked by a diverse ethnic composition (Bakker 2009: 140-141; Elmhirst et al. 2017: 5). Besides job seekers who are attracted by the economic potential of the region, this disparity of Bornean identities also results from various state-sponsored
transmigration programs that were already set up during colonial times and intensified under Suharto’s presidency. Trans migrants were enthused with the promise to receive a piece of land and sufficient provisions, to ensure self-support for at least eighteen months (Schiller 2007: 76). As these settlers started to appropriate and dominate land to which the local indigenous people
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claimed customary rights that preceded the presence of the migrants according to these local people, conflicts about land have become more prominent (Bakker 2016: 267-268).
Dayak are the best-known indigenous group throughout the province. Dayak is the official and collective name for people in Borneo’s interior and their many sub-tribes. They form the minority in the coastal and urban areas, but are the indigenous ethnic majority in several regencies of East Kalimantan (Bakker 2009: 140). Before the arrival of foreign powers during colonial times and the settlement of Bugis and Javanese on the coast, Dayak also used to populate these coastal areas denser. Dayak communities are very diverse in terms of language, identity and culture, which makes it difficult to set them as a clearly distinguishable group, although Bakker defines them as an ethnic category (Bakker 2009: 145). Dayak distinguish themselves from other ethnic (sub-)groups by means of a separate name, such as Benuaq or Kenyah. The largest Dayak community in the province are the Dayak Kenyah, but certainly not the only. During the research I interviewed people from different Dayak sub-tribes, such as Kenyah, Benuaq, Bahau, Paser and Maan’yan. The religious belief of the Dayak is characterized by their autochthonous religion of animism, complemented by Christianity. However, it is not impossible for Dayak to embrace Islam, like the Paser do (Bakker 2009: 146; Haug 2017a: 27; Schiller 2007: 72).
ii. A note on economy
Balikpapan is well-known for its wealth, business district and ports activities, which are
predominantly related to the oil and mining industries. The city has the largest oil refinery of the province (Scott et al. 2016: 15). Big (resource exploiting) (trans-)national companies, such as the Indonesian state-owned oil enterprise Pertamina, have their (regional) headquarters in Balikpapan instead of Samarinda, wherefore the city is mentioned as the business capital.
Due to richness in natural resources and activities related to these, East Kalimantan is one of the wealthiest and most profit yielding provinces of Indonesia. To exemplify this: the per capita gross regional product nominal (GRP nominal per capita) of East Kalimantan for the year 2017 stood at 157 million Indonesian Rupiah, compared to a national average of 53 million.7 The
combination of oil and coal reserves in the coastal areas with the easily accessible forests and large rivers that are beneficial for transport infrastructure, have made the area attractive for (trans-)national companies to invest in (Bakker 2009: 139). Already during colonial times the province was opened up to logging companies. Under Suharto’s New Order, natural resources
7Statistics published by BPS (Badan Pusat Statistik), which is the Indonesian Central Agency in Statistics.
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exploitation (coalmining, gas, oil) took place on a large scale as natural resources became
increasingly controlled by political and military elites (Haug 2017a: 33; McCarthy 2004). From the eighties onwards, plantations, mainly oil palm, also started to become an important economic potential. For the year 2011 it turned out that 50,29% of economic growth condition in the province was caused by the mining and resource extraction sector, whilst only 5,71% was enhanced by the agriculture sector (Elida 2013: 12). Despite all the economic potential,
Wintraecken (2011: 3) mentions that East Kalimantan knew the highest official unemployment rate of Indonesia, at least for the year 2007, at almost 13%. This might have been caused by a limited global demand for coal and other (natural) resources, but he does not elaborate on this. Although the province’s economy is marked by the development of market oriented economic activities related to natural resources, agriculture persists to exist due to the fact that many inland (Dayak) groups continue shifting cultivation, by planting hill rice and other crops, or supplement their income as subsistence rice farmers.
iii. A note on politics of land and identity
Three central elements that are interrelated and significant to understand (some of the influencers for) the manifestation of ormas in East Kalimantan are land, (indigenous) identity and law (Bakker 2009: 63-64). This interrelation is very much the case with adat, which plays an important role in Indonesian land tenure. Adat is the embodiment of longstanding traditions, customs and social order of Indonesia’s various ethnic indigenous groups, although processes to create and enforce rules might differ per sub-group (Alcorn and Royo 2000: 6). Related to adat are adat rights: the demands for recognition which are part of the political discourse in regions all over Indonesia (Bakker 2009: 20-21). Adat is thus both a social and normative concept as it relates to a category of legal rights as well as to an identifier of indigenous communities, referred to as masyarakat adat (Bakker 2009: 71).
During colonial times, customary rights were officially regarded valid for indigenous populations, at least for private law affairs. Pre-existing systems like adat were allowed to persist until new rules would replace these systems (Alcorn and Royo 2000: 4). This policy changed upon independence, when Sukarno became the first president of Indonesia. As part of his strive for political and economic authority, he introduced a uniform system of national law. Customary law remained valid throughout rural areas but was undermined in case it interfered with the state’s interest of development (Bakker 2014: 204). Under these circumstances, establishing the rules of local situations and determining what is considered legal and rightful have become problematic (Bakker 2009: 90). Suharto’s New Order politics and the quest for unity in the
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government structure even more ensured that customary traditional laws became reposterated under state law. The government legitimized this handling under the guise of ‘keeping in line with national development and assimilation into one Indonesian national identity’ (Alcorn and Royo 2000: 4; Elmhirst et al. 2017: 5-6). Government’s actions to control access to resources directly conflicted with local communities’ adat systems that claimed the same resources. Even nowadays a sentiment of bitterness remains among Kalimantan’s local indigenous inhabitants towards the central government of Suharto’s period. Especially under his presidency, ethnic diversity was tamed within Javanese cultural notions (Tsing 1993: 24-25). Other islands were transformed into the nation’s periphery, far from Jakarta as the center of power and decision-making. Feelings of backwardness and marginalization circulated among local communities, as fostered by the Javanese dominated bureaucracy of the Suharto period that only represented politics and
business-related interests of national elites to become rich, while discriminating and dispossessing people in the more remote areas from their land and livelihood opportunities (Haug 2017a: 33; McCarthy 2004: 1202). Schiller (2007: 66) therefore refers to New Order Indonesia as a new form of colonization for Dayaks.
After years of governmental repression in several forms, socioeconomic and political reforms were implemented to replace the centralistic system of the New Order. Increased regional
autonomy and the subsequent “hands-off” attitude of central government on new regional administrations provided local interest groups space to arise and to place emphasis on a collective regional identity and shared desires to resist the center’s influence in the region, such as these of Javanese business entrepreneurs, as basis for mobilization (Bakker 2014: 204-205; 2015: 79; 2017b: 128 Schulte Nordholt and Van Klinken 2007: 11-15). Local indigenous took advantage of enlarged (formal) acknowledgement of pluralism and increased freedom of speech, to become more outspoken. Their outspokenness included demands for more social justice, political power and greater shares of the wealth or compensation from (trans-)national companies that had penetrated into their rural areas to extract natural resources local people depend on (Bakker 2015: 87). Besides, these communities increasingly started to reclaim traditional lands, demand wider (re)valuation of adat (rights) and appreciation of their culture. This period has been recorded as the revitalization of previously suppressed tribal identities under a new emerging pride of being a
putra daerah (son of the region) (Nijhuis 2010: 25; Oesterheld 2016: 143). Through such
engagement and struggle, identification as indigenous, as a positioning which draws upon historically sedimented practices, landscapes and repertoires of meaning, becomes important or even a means to strengthen community rights over claims made by corporations or the state (Groβmann et al. 2017: 14; Li 2000: 151). In this sense, the term indigenous contextualizes
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particular (ancient old) mobilization that seek to place resource struggles and aspirations (of self-identification) of Indonesia's frontier peoples at the center of a broad social movement (Li 2000: 155, 175). Actors involve those who feel deemed backwards by Suharto’s regime and its limits to valuation of cultural differences and tribal territories, or by those who feel the need to preserve their indigenous cultures, livelihoods and traditions against threats posed by tourism,
transmigration projects and global capitalism (Bakker 2014: 208; Schiller 2007: 63-64, 90). Nowadays, adat is symbolically recognized but not formally acknowledged, which provides a grey legal situation wherein regional elites, companies, organizations like ormas and other actors try to gain (political) power, status and ownership over land (Nijhuis 2010: 6). Haug (2017b) further mentions that post-New Order East Kalimantan has been marked by ambiguous developments. Although processes of demarginalization of indigenous communities have taken place, new created centers within the region have also generated new margins.
c.
Ormas
in a wider setting of vigilante groups and social movementsThe abbreviation ormas connotes societal organization. This is quite a broad and vague term, as it includes community, religious, ethnic, environmental, and welfare organizations that are
associated with social activities and societal support (Bakker 2015: 81). In their discussions on the development of non-state actors in post-New Order Indonesia, Wilson (2006: 265) and
(McCarthy 2004) use the terms paramilitary, vigilante and militia interchangeably. Ormas intermingles with these terms and the differences between them do not really matter. The purpose of this section is rather to explain ormas and to show that these not always tend towards to social activity side wherein women are active.
Vigilantism denotes a movement of autonomous citizens who mobilize in case they consider the formal justice system failing to adequately respond to transgressions of
institutionalized norms (Abrahams 1998: 7-9). To some extent, ormas are vigilantes in the sense that they take over the duty of the state to enforce law and to provide societal needs that they see the state as failing to enforce. They guide and legitimize their actions by referring to social justice, as one of the pillars of the state ideology Pancasila (Bakker 2016: 255, 266; van Doorn-Harder 2006: 3). Vigilantes emerge at the grassroot level under turbulent political circumstances, like
ormas did during the tumultuous period after Suharto’s resignation to offer a forum for those not
belonging to the established elite (Bakker 2008: 5). The interests they defend are largely decided by themselves, but also have to be in line with requirements of their supporters, to ensure the mass support they need for their existence. While many ormas members serve the greater good, or at least claim to do this by pointing to NGO-like social activities, some other members advocate
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the interests of specific (elite or corporate) groups or use ethnic (Dayak) identity to legitimize threat and violence. In case of East Kalimantan, the law also enforces the role of vigilantes. The situation regarding adat rights, as solely symbolically recognized and conditional, makes it unclear what rights it refers to and whether a community loses its specific rights in case they are no longer traditional (Bedner and Van Huis 2008: 170). This provides a grey legal situation for different actors to take matters into own hands under the guise of “defending the interest of their supporters.”
Ormas are also a bit like social movements. The latter are characterized by coordinated
collective actionsthat are conducted on behalf of shared interests of local people or to achieve a common good, in which governments are involved as targets (Tilly and Tarrow 2001: 4). Shared interests wherefore ormas members mobilize are the acknowledgement of adat rights or ensuring the safety of Balikpapan against religious radicalism. However, the potential to use intimidating (violent) methods to get things done, or at least militaristic images that are embodied through among others camouflage-like outfits, make that ormas are also a bit like militia. The latter are organizations that have the potential to use threatening and violent methods of performance or at least convey military symbolism towards outsiders, to ensure respect and awe (Bakker 2008).
Ormas’ militia side stems from performances and organizational structures of the historical
configuration of such organizations, which will be discussed later. During the fieldwork I encountered this militia side, as I was told that some ormas have a unit that functions as
supplement of the military in emergency situations. Members also get (physical) training from the military to do this. Contrastingly, today’s ormas also have another side, whereby members engage in social activities and claim social responsibility through (soft) methods of negotiation and mediation. This tends more towards NGOs. Though, ormas (claim to) go further where NGOs stop: “an ormas has more potential to scare off than a NGO. We can really make an impact because of the backing of a big mass.”8 Bakker (2016: 265) already emphasized the capability of
ormas to bring out the masses and apply pressure on government and companies, while NGO’s
are smaller and thus easier to be ignored in their demands. Ormas also differ from NGOs in terms of funding: whereas ormas are private organizations run by volunteers, NGOs depend on funding of government or (western) donors to pay their staff regular salaries (van Doorn-Harder 2006: 3).
Ormas’ flexibility in operating and the multiplicity of its characteristics, by having both a
militia and a social side, thus makes that ormas intermingles with different terms used by Wilson (2006: 265) and McCarthy (2004).
8 Interview with Mei Christy, former leader of local indigenous ormas KPDAK and former leader of LASWAN, the women’s unit
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i. Historical development of ormas organizations
Previous forms of organizing where ormas have foundation in go back to colonial times. During this period, organized paramilitary, vigilante and militia groups were active, although in a fairly different form compared to today. Besides security activities they predominantly conducted activities coordinated by regime patrons. Militia groups were integrated to the party structure of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and Indonesian National Party (PNI) (Aspinall and Mietzner 2010: 201).
Under Suharto’s presidency, nationalism and masculinity were intertwined, as national identity and state control were built around masculinity. Values like control, power and authority briefly encapsulate social and cultural constructions of what it meant to be male in Indonesia (Connell 2009; Noviani 2009: 170; Oakley 1972). These values were very much visible through the performance of preman, or gangsters. As vigilante groups of young men, preman became the embodiment of informal state control and the bodyguard of the Suharto family (Bakker 2016: 13). Especially members of PP were used by the Suharto regime to carry out the “dirty
handwork,” such as beating up opponents of the regime and expelling invaders from areas that the state designed as new project sites (Bakker 2017a: 134; Wilson 2006: 266). By using preman, the government could control society without relying on police or military, which would threaten Suharto’s monopolization over violence (Alcano 2016: 55). The militia groups could perform their activities in return for a cut of the profits in the various levels of state bureaucracy. Preman who did well in their assigned task of maintaining the regime, were offered a position within the regime state hierarchy (Aspinall and Mietzner 2010: 202; Wilson 2006: 266).
The dominant type of masculinity, or hegemonic masculinity, requires conformity to certain normative characteristics and behavior, despite the presence of alternative masculinities (Connell 2009; Nilan et al. 2009). Hegemonic masculine ideals of preman entailed the image of their readiness for violence and “as having nothing to sell but their own muscles” to enforce respect and awe and to dominate the public sphere (Ryter 1998: 49). This tendency to violence is argued to evolve from what is called “protest masculinity” (Connell 1995: 109-112; Wilson 2010). In case honour, social acceptance and recognition are not achievable through conventional means such as income and material resources, violence and criminality become the behaviour ascribed to achieve some type of territorial sovereignty and (hegemonic) masculine identity (Alcano 2016: 57). Physical prowess and rebelliousness are very much a part of longstanding Indonesian masculinity, or even as the hegemonic masculinity in which the jago9 is often romanticized as a
9 The jago or local strongman was a man of prowess for the colonial era: someone who claimed magical powers such as the art of
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hero and as embodiment of the virile and virtuous man who is motivated to act violently, due to his deep sense of justice, honor and order that transcends those of the law and the state (Schulte Nordholt 1991; Wilson 2012). “Bandits, rotten, motherfuckers, gangsters, basically everything bad” are terms that denote how preman were perceived by society during that time (Ryter 1998: 46).
After Suharto’s resignation,preman were less central coordinated. They repositioned
themselves in today’s ormas to establish new legitimacy, although in a different, less-violent way and without depending upon state patronage (Nijhuis 2010: 4-5; Schulte Nordholt and Van Klinken 2007). Via this way, preman could gain influence as social and political actor (Bakker 2017a: 127; Wilson 2006: 290). After years of repressive authoritarian rule under Suharto, society anticipated for greater stability and prosperity in which violence simply became a less desired means to solve problems. The with preman associated word ‘criminality’ also turned into a broader meaning, as connoting both illegal practices and socio-political processes that describe behaviour, people and intersections with authority (Wilson 2008; Ryter 1998: 48). This change in
performances of ormas members was also noticed by Jolanda,10 whereby she refers to the
improved cooperation between police and ormas in terms of negotiation and mediation.
However, to engender awe and to make sure these groups are taken seriously by society, police and enemies, today’s ormas have to retain in some way a militia side. Therefore,
intimidating, tough images of the (physical) masculine and its envisioned potent and virility, remain (Nijhuis 2010: 31). Surveys among the women of Srikandi PP also indicated this. They described the ideal male member of today’s PP as “ready to defend the country until the last drop of blood.” One way to retain masculine elements is ensured through the performance of ilmu
kebal. This means mystic powers (roughly) and connotes among others physical invulnerability
and invincibility from weapons as central to the imagined potent and masculine body. “As ilmu
kebal descends from traditional rituals performed by ancestors, some of the older generation in ormas still perform it nowadays,” Ali Amin explained.11 Suriansyah added: “Some women from
the older generation also do it, but the practice is more related to become one with the body prior to fighting on the ground. Women rarely involve in these activities, so ilmu kebal is more related to the physical potency of men.”12 It is among others through these performances that
outsiders sometimes ascribe notions on ormas as male-dominated, masculine and violent, which
considered a local hero. He provides protection, involves in criminal activities, but also cooperates with government/powerholders. He is seen as tough and impressive, both as person and as actor (Wilson 2010).
10 Interview with Jolanda, vice-leader of polres (district police) Balikpapan. 5 March 2018.
11 Interview with Ali Amin, secretary-general national ormas PP, department Balikpapan. 1 February 2018. 12 Interview with Suriansyah, chairman of local indigenous ormas GEPAK. 10 February 2018.
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explains my comment in the introduction on the presence of women in ormas as peculiar at first sight.
However, softer and less-masculine images that tend towards NGO-like performances are also essential for today’s ormas, to ensure a broad(ening) membership in terms of among others gender and/or to demonstrate that ormas take social responsibility of serving the greater good (Ryter 1998: 47; 2007). In short, ormas in contemporary Indonesia must balance between creating fear and enforcing prestige, between masculine toughness and feminine softness, between representing the underworld, while also standing for the underclass and by performing threat but also function as a cure (Ryter 1998: 49, 66; Wilson 2012).
d. Women’s activism in Indonesia in historical perspective
i. Early stages of women’s activism
Indonesia has a long tradition of women’s activism and the beginnings go back to colonial times. Alongside the struggle for independence, three major challenges women faced during the
twentieth century were related to (forced) marriage, polygamy and access to education. Other issues wherefore women felt the need to mobilize concerned the right to vote and prostitution. These struggles were given response to through the establishment of multiple women’s
organizations, which emerged under nationalist secular and religious organizations (Schröter 2013: 33-34). Putri Mardika (the independent woman), is mentioned as the first and most prominent women’s organization during that time and established in 1912 (Nyman 2006: 128). Shortly afterwards, Jong Java, with among its members the future-president Sukarno, established Putri Indonesia (Women of Indonesia) and Muhammadiyah13 established a women’s wing named
Aisyah (Arivia and Subono 2017: 7-8).
Delegates from the established women’s organizations formed the Indonesian women’s movement. This movement was closely linked to the predominantly male-led nationalist
movement of that time. It is notable that during the strive for independence from the Dutch, women and men worked together. Women even took up arms, an activity generally only men engage in (Van Doorn-Harder 2006: 32). Women were supported by men to actively engage in the struggle against colonialization, because of shared desires for independence and united demand for nationalist goals. “Becoming” men by proving to have masculine traits of aggressive behavior and to be able to be in charge, is mentioned as another factor that determines the level of satisfaction on women’s engagement among men and/or in male-attributed activities like public protest or armed conflict (Robert-Cáez 2014: 88). This suggests that the image of a good
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participant derives from a masculine image wherein feminine values are not/less incorporated and that playing out ideas on (respectable) womanhood that are ideologically required from women, might give women the agency they need to navigate between male actors (Gjelsvik 2010: 44; Jensen 2009: 50).
The documentation of women fighters in the battle against colonialism, such as that of Roro Gusik from Java, Martha Christina Tiahua from Sulawesi or the as national hero awarded Cut Nyak Dien from Aceh, might imply opportunities for women equal to men and tolerance for women’s activism (Arivia and Subono 2017: 7). However, tolerance does not necessarily entail respect for their activism. The amount of historical literature that has recorded women’s activism remains small compared to these documenting men’s activism. It is suggested that this indicates women’s absence in the important decision-making positions and indirectly reflects the structure of the patriarchal society (in terms of women’s position) (Arivia and Subono 2017: 7; Leanna Henshaw 2016: 206). Also the influence of the Indonesian women’s movement remained small, as these were overwhelmed by the nationalist ideology under Sukarno’s presidency and the dominating (ideal) image on women as the obedient, supportive wife and mother. Besides that, the women’s movement struggled to overcome their apparent image of having origins in urbanity (Jakarta) and activists rooted in higher classes, as not standing for (the needs of) women from all layers of society (Blackburn 2004; Nyman 2006: 140; Robinson and Bessell 2002: 69).
As the years progressed, the focus of women’s activism widened, ranging from education to focus on human rights activities. Thereto linked was the diversity between movements, with divisions into secular, religious, political and other movements. Autonomous women’s
organizations that established during the nationalist period continued to exist under president Suharto, although organized and controlled to propagate Suharto’s state ideology that
emphasized women’s subordinate, chaste status in public rather than addressing women’s advancement as such. Besides, Suharto set up its own mass women’s organizations under the name Dharma Wanita,14 whose primary intentions were to re-subordinate women rather than
emancipating them.
14 Dharma Wanita or the Women’s Duty, was the state-controlled civil service wives’ association, which supported and
administered the ideals and values of women as set by the New Order gender policy. These included ideas on women as producers of motherhood, managers of the home and loyal to their husband.
27 ii. The militant mothers of Gerwani
During the 1950s and early 1960s, a new kind of women’s organizing was introduced by Gerwani (The Indonesian Women’s Movement) (Nyman 2006: 130). This group tended to radical and communist affiliations and included some feminist learnings in its stances. Gerwani strived for involvement of women in all domains of the public sphere and stressed that women could be mothers and political actors at the same time (Blackburn 2004: 150-151). In this way, Gerwani laid the groundwork for women in contemporary Indonesia by reducing the stigma on women who take care for infants while simultaneously engaging in other activities in the public sphere, which apply to many mothers in ormas.
Whereas previous movements represented (or were seen as such) the needs of women coming from the upper classes, Gerwani used the method of grassroot mobilization to help poor working women in rural areas. Besides, women were encouraged to engage in politics and so to enter a domain which is traditionally the realm of men. This posed a treat for Suharto’s
authoritarian, masculine-oriented rule that expected women to be chaste and subordinate to men. Hence, Gerwani was abolished under Suharto’s rule (Robinson and Bessell 2002: 70; Wieringa 2000: 137-138).
The term militant motherhood captures the situation in which women of Gerwani found themselves: they aspired to be the active, warlike, and ever supportive wives of their husband, but also to exist in a militant, independent way to define their own gender interests (Wieringa 2002: 192-196). Srikandi,15 the warrior princess, served as an aspiration for this ideological position
Gerwani based itself. Notably, the women’s units of today’s national ormas PP and national ormas
Laskar Merah Putih (hereafter: LMP) call themselves Srikandi. Interviews did not indicate they are related in any way, but it seems that the situation wherein today’s ormas women have to balance, somehow resembles the dual roles Srikandi and Gerwani found themselves in (see also section on agency and Van Ham 2018 on soft and hard power).
Gerwani used traditional stereotypes of women, as mothers and patriots taking care of
society to negotiate their female gender in male dominated realms. Smiling, chanting and public praying included some of their peaceful strategies to achieve their goals (Nyman 2006: 142). In these situations, women’s communication skills and their willingness to take on great(er)
responsibility by dedicating themselves to society also turned out to provide (tactical) advantages to get things done (Robert-Cáez 2014: 88). Chanting and public praying (pengajian) are still one of the most common activities today’s women’s units engage in.
15 Srikandi is a female character from the Hindu epic Mahabharata and an important figure in Javanese mythology. She seen as
