SKIP TO MAIN CONTENT

Indonesia rejects 'virginity test' plan

The Indonesian government on Tuesday dismissed a lawmaker's proposal to force teenage schoolgirls to undergo virginity tests.

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AFP


Skip to article content

Women's affairs ministry official Wahyu Hartomo said such tests would violate basic human rights and potentially harm the health of young women.

"That kind of test violates human rights and will have serious psychological impacts on students," he told AFP.

News that makes sense

Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

"It is more effective for our generation to receive moral education from their parents at home, especially with the (bad) influence from the Internet."

Lawmakers in Sumatra island's Jambi province have agreed to drop the idea, which was proposed by local parliamentarian Bambang Bayu Suseno, Hartomo said.

Suseno believes girls should be required to pass virginity tests before they can enter state-funded high schools, citing concerns over pre-marital sex among teenagers in the Muslim-majority country.

"The idea is simple. Parents are obviously afraid of their daughters being deflowered before the time comes, so before they continue their studies they can undergo a virginity test and automatically protect their dignity," he told The Jakarta Post newspaper.

"Why are girls who lose their virginity allowed to go to public school?"

Indonesian officials are struggling to balance the country's rapid modernisation, especially the runaway growth of Internet use, with traditional, mainly Muslim values.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has signed a controversial anti-pornography law, backed filters against online pornography and warned that a "frenzy" of Internet use could tear the nation apart.

Earlier this year police entered classrooms to check teenage students' mobile phones for evidence they had downloaded celebrity sex clips that went viral on the Internet, causing a national scandal.


Get SBS News straight to your inbox

Sign up now for daily news from Australia and around the world. You can also subscribe to Insight's weekly newsletter for in-depth features and first-person stories.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Follow SBS News

Download our apps

Listen to our podcasts

Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service

Stream now

Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world