Female military applicants in Indonesia are
subjected to virginity tests - including the
discredited "two finger test" to determine if
the hymen is intact - in order to recruit the
"best people" to the armed forces.
Human Rights Watch is lobbying countries -
including Australia - who are attending an
international conference on military medicine
in Bali next week, to urge Indonesian president
Joko Widodo to abolish the "discriminatory
and invasive testing".
Indonesian military spokesman Major-General
Fuad Basya​ told Fairfax Media virginity tests
were performed on female candidates as part
of health tests required to enter the military.
"It’s against the rights of every woman": A
female military academy applicant subjected
to a virginity test in 2013. Photo: Human Rights
Watch
"It is done in order to get the best people both
physically and mentally," General Fuad said.
He said doctors would know if the female
candidate had lost her hymen due to an
accident or another reason.
She would then have to explain why her
hymen was no longer intact.
"If it is due to an accident we can still
consider it but if it's due to another reason,
well, we cannot accept her."
General Fuad said the tests were already in
place in 1977 when he entered the military.
He said military personnel needed to be
mentally fit because they had to carry guns to
guard Indonesia's integrity and sovereignty.
"It is very important."
But Nisha Varia, a women's rights advocacy
director at Human Rights Watch, said
"harmful and humiliating" virginity tests did
nothing to strengthen national security.
"President Joko Widodo should set the
military straight and immediately abolish the
requirement and prevent all military hospitals
from administering it."
Andreas Harsono, an Indonesia researcher for
Human Rights Watch, said the "two finger
test" involves a doctor inserting fingers into
the vagina and anus to determine if the
hymen is intact.
"This unscientific approach says that if the
hymen is torn between 11 o'clock and 1
o'clock it means an accident but if it is torn
at 6 o'clock it means frequent sexual
exercise."
Last year the World Health Organisation
issued guidelines that stated: "There is no
place for virginity (or two-finger) testing. It
has no scientific validity."
This is because hymens can be damaged for
reasons other than sex.
The tests became a hot topic in Indonesia
after Human Rights Watch released a report in
November featuring interviews with female
police officers who said the digital penetration
test left them feeling traumatised.
Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo​
reportedly announced in December he was
seeking an end to virginity tests as part of
requirements for female civil servants.
However Human Rights Watch research found
that the military had also been using the tests
for decades and even extended the
requirement to the fiancees of military
officers.
General Fuad denied fiancees were also
tested.
"No, we don't do that. What's the need?" he
said.
But 11 women interviewed by Human Rights
Watch said the tests were required of all
women applying to enter the military or marry
a military officer.
The international non-government
organisation said applicants and fiancees who
failed the test were not necessarily penalised
but all of the women described the test as
painful, embarrassing and traumatic.
"What shocked me was finding out that the
doctor who was to perform the test was a
man," a female military academy applicant
who was subjected to a virginity test in
Bandung in 2013 told Human Rights Watch.
"I felt humiliated. It was very tense. It's all
mixed up. I hope the future medical
examination excludes the virginity test. It's
against the rights of every woman."
The International Committee on Military
Medicine is holding its 41st world conference
in Bali from May 17 to 22.
Human Rights Watch has sent letters to the
committee and its 16 member countries, which
includes Australia, asking them to urge the
Indonesian military to cease all virginity tests

Wetin person no go hear for this world

Actually I opened this thread to see for myself