Domestic Violence Against Woman In Helvy Tiana Rosa’s A Meeting In A Silent Garden (PBING-25)

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

Chapter  I  is  Introduction  which  consists  of  some  sub-chapters.  They  are background  of  the study,  reasons  for  choosing  the  topic,  statements  of  the problem, objectives of the study, significance of the study, and the outlineof the study.

1.1 Background of the Study

In this modern era, when everyone lives with their right, where there are a lotof women’s movements, we still can find dependentwomen that are trapped under man’s authority. Some call it as patriarchy, actually these kinds of case have many causes not only patriarchy.  Still people assumed that patriarchyis the main factor of it. Here are some examples of domestic violence:

Bima, NTB. A teacher torturedhis wife because his wife forbad him to do polygamy. Mujnah, the wife, reported her husbandbehavior to the local police department. Police had  caught  Mujnah’s husbandand sentenced him 5 years in jail. The cause of domestic violence  in  this case is quite simple; it is just a problem of self controlof the husband’s passion. In other words,it just because one reason, troubles never end.

(Reportase Pagi/ Trans TV, August 8, 2008; 05.55 a.m.)

 

Bogor, West  Java.  Nur  Aini  (19)  is  mentally  disturbed  in  7  month pregnancy. She confessedthat she was treated badly by his husband. She got hits andher head was collided to the wall of the bathroom. She reportedthis case to the localpolice department two months  agobut the policehas not takenany action while no one knows where Nur Aini’s husband is. Unfortunately it did not mention why it happened.

(Reportase Pagi/ Trans TV, August 8, 2008; 05.55 a.m.)

Pasuruan, East Java. An old man rapedan under age girl. He did it 17 times in 3 months. He treated will kill her if she reported what had he done to her. Andhe did it when the  girl’sparents went to the market. This poor little girl depressed, she shamed and wouldnot  go  to the school.And the old man was threatened by jail punishment for more than 5 years.

(Reportase Pagi/ Trans TV, August 8, 2008; 05.55 a.m.)

Magelang, Central Java. There were three women, victims of domestic violence, were saved in a safe house of the government of Magelang.Because the violence almost took their life and the victims have no place to go, this action was taken. Some because their family would  notreceive them and some have no relative  in  that  town.  Sahabat  Perempuan  (Woman  Friend  of  Magelang)  had received 68 cases in November 2007 (Kompas, 2007).

Up to 2006, LBH APIK, a Legal Aid Association, had received 3682 cases of domestic violence (Good Morning/ Trans TV, July 15, 2008; 08.53 a.m.).

Those  cases  above  are  concerning  us.  When  we  had  got  our  rights  and independence, some of us could not enjoy it.

In the past, in almost all over the world, people thought that women were the most contemptible creaturethat had nothingto do except took care domestic things. In some otherplaces’ history women were even treated worse than that. And these are some of the cases:

In 500s C. in the Middle East, having a daughter was a shameful thing so thatthey buried alive their female infant before someone else knew it. They did this because they considered that a daughter was weak, and could not go for war. AndUmar bin Khattabdid this to his daughter before he became a muslim and he regretted it during his live. “I was crying when I dig for my daughter.She came forward  and  then combed  my  beard.”  (http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar_Bin_Khattab). He was not out of controlat that time, but he was ordered by the custom.  There  was  belief  said  that  daughter  was  a  shameful  which  brought nothing in good.

 

In India is different, the case in India is about the under age bride. There werea lot of under age women or girlswere taken to be a bride, pushed to take care  the  house  and  got  bad  treat  from  their  husbands.  Even  Gandhi  often mentioned his concerned about this problem in his speeches.“Just a man with no feeling who can say that marry under-aged girls is not a sin.” (Gandhi, 2002: 64). The  case  of  the  under  age  bride  was  very common  in  India.  At  present  the movement of women in that country is increasing, but there is still small number of the same case based on the custom. Becauseparents in Indiaworried if their daughter could not pay for the groom, so that if there any man who interested to theirdaughter and receivedwhatever the parents paid him then the daughter will be pushed to marry him. And the bride’s age is often under 15 years old.

But in  the  middle  of  the  chaos  above,  some  ancients  Egypt  history mentioned that goddesses had higher position than god which reflected that there was aglory for woman at that time, before patriarchy came. Egyptianwas praying to the goddess of Justice, Maat.

Old Egyptian women had a high position on earth and sky, and it was continued by  theirchildren. At that time, the goddessof justice is a woman and her name was Maat. (Nawal Al-Sadawi, 2002:11)

 

It proved that there was a time where woman was respected by the society.

 

When the time goes by, women were fighting to get their right and freedom.  And  women’s rights are protectedunder the law. Although woman’s right and freedom is  under undoubted law, we stillcan find domestic violence happened around us, whichthe  victims are dominatedby women and children. These two creatures, women and children,are often considered as weak creatures, so that they become the victims of violence which is happened in a household.

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