Komnas Perempuan Hopes That President Joko Widodo Will Keep His Institution

President Joko Widodo while chairing a closed meeting virtually (Photo: Cabinet Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia)

JAKARTA - The National Commission for Women (Komnas) hopes that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) will continue to maintain his institution. This was conveyed by the Coordinator of the National Secretariat of the Service Provider Forum (FPL) for women victims of violence, Veni Siregar in response to the plan to dissolve 18 institutions that will be carried out by the President.

According to her, Komnas Perempuan is one of the institutions related to human rights (HAM) so that President Jokowi should defend it.

"We hope that the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Joko Widodo, will continue to maintain his existence and continue to strengthen the position of Komnas Perempuan as a national human rights institution," Veni was quoted as saying in his written statement, Monday, July 20.

As an institution established under a Presidential Regulation (Perpres), continued Veni, Komnas Perempuan has a consistent work in fighting for the rights of women victims of violence.

In addition, Komnas Perempuan is considered to be working real and active in documenting violence against women in Indonesia and has worked both to do advocacy at the regional and national levels.

"Komnas Perempuan is always together with women's organizations to encourage the birth of various just strategic policies for women," she emphasized.

So, he considered that there was no reason for President Jokowi to dissolve the institution which was established through Article 1 of Presidential Decree Number 65 of 2005 concerning the National Commission on Violence Against Women.

Previously reported, President Jokowi plans to dissolve a number of institutions to save the state budget in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Later, the former Governor of DKI Jakarta said that there were 18 state institutions that would be disbanded, but did not specify which institutions.

Even so, the Chief of Presidential Staff (KSP) Moeldoko gave a leak about the institutions that will be dissolved, including the National Commission for Aging, the National Sports Accreditation and Standardization Agency (BSANK), and the Peat Restoration Agency (BRG).

The reason these institutions will be dissolved is because their main duties and functions are considered to collide with the previously established institutions. Apart from that, the institution that will be dissolved is considered not to have performed optimally.