According To General Andika's Orders, The Virginity Test For The Selection Of Female Indonesian Soldiers Is Officially Abolished

Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, General Andika Perkasa. (screenshot)

JAKARTA - Head of the TNI Health Center (Kapuskes) Major General TNI Budiman confirmed that the TNI had withdrawn the virginity test during the selection of female National Armed Forces (TNI) soldiers. The deletion was carried out on three TNI dimensions.

"(The abolition of virginity tests) has been effective (in effect). It has been applied to all dimensions, both land, sea, and air," said Budiman, after the 2022 Health Technical Coordination Meeting (Rakornikes) at TNI Headquarters Cilangkap, East Jakarta, Wednesday, April 13, quoted from Antara.

According to the direction of the TNI Commander General Andika Perkasa, Budiman said, women's virginity tests did not affect them while undergoing education, training, and even assignments as TNI women.

Therefore, General Andika then abolished the virginity test from the examination of the body of prospective female TNI soldiers.

"The TNI Commander has abolished this requirement in the technical manual for examining the bodies of prospective TNI soldiers," said Budiman.

According to him, the policy of the TNI Commander is not directly related to the surge in applicants for female soldiers.

However, the policy of eliminating virginity tests is basically to provide principles of human rights (HAM) for women who happen to be no longer virgins, either intentionally or unintentionally.

Thus, these women still have the opportunity to become female TNI soldiers as long as they have good intellectual and physical abilities.

"It all relates to the credibility of the person concerned and we have a series of tests to see this. But what is clear is that this issue is no longer a standard thing in the technical guidelines (technical guidelines)," said Budiman.

The policy of eliminating virginity tests in the recruitment of prospective TNI soldiers was made by General TNI Andika Perkasa when he became Army Chief of Staff (Kasad) in 2021.

At that time, Andika said the test was considered no longer relevant to the goals of military education. "Therefore, there is no need for those who have nothing to do anymore," he said.