rewplaw.com - In simple terms, a household is a group consisting of a husband and wife, children, in-laws, and so on. Households where violence often occurs are a place where the lives of its residents consist of various statuses, such as husband and wife, parents, children, people who are related by blood, people who work to help in the life of the household in question, other people who live there. , and people who still or have lived together in a household. Meanwhile, the scope of the household as intended in Law Number 23 of 2004 concerning the Elimination of Domestic Violence, Chapter 1 Concerning General Provisions Article 2 includes husband, wife, children, people who have relationships with husbands, wives and children due to blood relations, marriage, breastfeeding, parenting and guardianship who live in the household, and/or people who work to help the household and live in the household.

A household with a nuclear family only consists of a husband, wife and children. It is also common in society to find a household consisting of other family members such as in-laws, in-laws and relatives based on blood or marriage ties to the husband and wife concerned. Apart from that, households in modern urban life are generally enlivened by the presence of other people who act as servants. The helper can come from a relative or family of the husband and wife concerned and can also be an outsider.

Behavior or acts of domestic violence as a social fact are not a new matter from the sociological perspective of Indonesian society. This problem has been going on for a long time and still continues today. Domestic violence as intended in Law Number 23 of 2004, Chapter 1 Concerning General Provisions Article 2 is any act against someone, especially women, which results in physical, sexual, psychological misery or suffering and/or domestic neglect. including threats to commit unlawful acts, coercion or deprivation of liberty within the household.

Apart from that, domestic violence (KDRT) is a universal social fact because it can occur in a household without distinction between culture, religion, ethnicity and the age of the perpetrator or victim. Therefore, it can occur in simple, poor and backward family households as well as in rich, educated, famous and respected family households. This act of violence can be committed by a husband or wife against their respective partners, or against children, other family members, and against their servants separately or simultaneously. This destructive behavior has the potential to shake the foundations of household life with a series of consequences behind it, including the worst, such as the disintegration of a household.

Over a long period of time, acts of domestic violence in Indonesia tend to be latent and rarely come to the surface. As a result, it is more of a simple incident that is less interesting than a social fact that should receive special attention and serious handling from society and the government. Domestic violence in Indonesia is still ongoing everywhere, with the number of cases and their intensity tending to increase day by day. The Indonesian print and electronic mass media are never devoid of the latest news and information about acts of domestic violence, including in the households of celebrities.

Sexual violence such as rape is a form of domestic violence whose victims can be men as well as women. Criminologists often say that the statistics on rape crimes, including domestic ones, are like an iceberg. The statistical data on acts of violence is much smaller than the actual number of rape incidents that occur. In an open society, not all rape cases are revealed, especially in smaller units such as families.

(Domestic) Violence as a Sociological Concept

Domestic violence is conceptually comparable to other violence, including political violence. As a comparison to this problem, Gurr defines political violence as follows:

“all collective attacks within a political community against the political regime, its actors – including competing political groups as well as incumbents—or its policies. The concept represents a set of events, a common property of which is the actual or treated use of violence…. The concept subsumes revolution, … guerilla war, coups d'atat, and riots.”

The definition above shows that acts of political violence are very broad in scope, covering all incidents whose main element is the use or threat of use of violence carried out by perpetrators/actors or groups of actors who oppose state authorities. Apart from that, Galtung defines violence in a broader sense as "any avoidable impediment to self-realization", which means anything that causes people to be prevented from actualizing their potential properly.

The conceptualization of violence proposed by Galtung includes two types of violence, namely direct or personal violence and indirect or structural violence. Direct violence is violence committed by one or a group of actors against another party (violence-as-action), while structural violence simply occurs within a structure (violence-as-structure) or society without a particular actor or is carried out by a person or group of people by using violent means.

Based on these two comparative definitions, domestic violence can be defined as an act of arbitrary use of power or authority without limitation (abuse of power) owned by the perpetrator, namely the husband or wife or other members of the household, which can threaten individual safety and rights. each. and/or other members of the household such as children, in-laws, in-laws, and servants.

The arbitrary use of power is possible because of the situation that forms in the household where one person's dominance over another is very strong due to several factors as will be explained later. This domination will continue as long as the level of dependence of the dominated party on the dominant remains high.

Typically, domestic violence that threatens the safety of individuals in a household comes from the husband or wife. However, sometimes similar threats can also come from children or other family members, including servants, as a protest reaction to the excessive pressure and negative treatment they receive. In fact, acts of violence by servants today are no longer small and trivial matters because they often occur, especially against children and also their employers, in the form of mild torture to murder.

From the explanation above, domestic violence can be grouped into five forms, namely:

1. Physical violence in the form of beatings with hands or objects, abuse, confinement, excessive workload, and threats of violence

2. Verbal violence in the form of cursing, spitting and other forms of verbal insults

3. Psychological or emotional violence which includes restrictions on individual rights and various forms of acts of terror

4. Economic violence through actions to limit excessive use of finances and coercion of will for economic interests, such as forcing people to work and so on

5. Sexual violence in the lightest form of sexual harassment up to rape.

Sample Case

Before it is revealed and becomes a matter of widespread public attention, domestic violence is closed and tends to be understood by perpetrators and victims as a private matter within a tightly confined area of ​​privacy. His presence in the realm of privacy is becoming increasingly strong along with the attitude of people around him who also tend to be indifferent and do not want to be involved in other people's household problems. The indifferent attitude shown by the local community towards this case is still felt strongly today, especially if the community around the household that experiences it is not completely free from the practices of domestic violence, even in its mildest form. If the reasons are explained one by one, many factors will be found that cause this closure to continue. Among these, the most strongly felt is the emergence of an individualistic attitude to life which is growing especially among urban communities, as well as tips for avoiding open conflict between people.

One example of a case that attracted widespread public attention was the violence experienced by Ary Anggara in Jakarta around the 1980s. This teenage boy from an educated and well-off family was beaten and tortured by his parents in such a way without restraint and mercy repeatedly on many occasions.

Another sensational case of domestic violence is the violence that befell Nirmala Bonet in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This female migrant worker (TKW), who works as a domestic helper, who comes from Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, experienced severe torture at the hands of her employer, namely a Chinese woman named Yim Pek Ha. This case came to light in mid-May 2004 after a security guard at the condominium where her employer lived reported Nirmala's condition to the local police with her face and head covered in bruises as she cried on the stairs of the condominium. The police then took him to Kuala Lumpur Hospital and then to the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI) in Kuala Lumpur.

The Malaysian and Indonesian public gave strong reactions and condemnation because the violence experienced by the domestic helper for five consecutive months was so serious and very concerning. He was tortured in such a way by his employer with hot irons on his chest and back until his skin blistered and shriveled. His head was hit with an iron while his whole body was doused with hot water. The daily Suara Merdeka called it the cruelest form of torture ever. The photo of the injured Nirmala Bonet spread quickly throughout the world, causing an international reaction.

This is an example of the most serious case of domestic violence with the denial of individual rights. Ivy Josiah, Executive Director of the Malaysian Women's Aid Association, said: “Nirmala's case is an extreme case. It's everyday abuse that we are also concerned about, such as no off-days, lack of food, lack of bedding, not receiving wages, and so on." It is clear that domestic violence occurs because of power and domination, "It is about power. Some of the time it's because of their own insecurities and their need to retain some form of power.”

- REWP Law