Of Creating Post-Apocalyptic Chains and Cages

Just like how one side of a wheel has its own cycle of being on top and being crushed down against the rubble, the world, as we all know it, is coming to yet another definitive end. The economy is crashing, businesses are suffering, and the people are wailing on their respective governments for the lack of integrity and speed as they handle this seem-to-be apocalypse. 

By the time the school kids come back and attend their classes and the workers find their ways back to their respective offices, we will not be the same people as we were before this COVID-19 pandemic. The world would not be the same either.

The same problems, however, would remain. Some homework was left unattended by the people of the nation. When we come back later, we would be asking, "now what?" as we peer our gaze to the mess before our eyes, left untouched by the government.

After the outbreak commenced, our attention is deflected to the growing pandemic. While we are doing our best to stay alive and afloat, we left a lot of things in Indonesia unattended and unwatched. Amongst them would be the infamous Family Endurance draft bill (RUU Ketahanan Keluarga). While the title of the bill may look harmless, it contains myriad of issues that would certainly raise brows at best and enrage people affected at worst.

Suppose the unthinkable happened---despite the constant criticism by various organisations in the nation, the Family Endurance Bill got passed and everyone in Indonesia must abide to it---what would happen next to our lives as people of Indonesia?

The Burden of Proof
When a body of institution decides that someone is not in the "normal" part of the spectrum, then they possess the proclivity to think they are justified to take away some, if not all their rights, against their will. This requires the said group of people to then ponder on and define what constitutes as normalcy. In most cases, sadly, their judgement of what constitutes to be fidelity and normalcy is clouded by their own personal bias as well as existing prejudices, hence allowing their justification to conform to only the values that they themselves think is right, but may not be so for some, if not most of people they thought they are speaking for.

Thus, when the people devising the Family Endurance bill stated that they have observed how "the phenomenon of globalisation and the advancements in socio-economic sector as well as culture and information technology sectors have caused a shift in cultural and family values" and therefore seeing the making of this bill to be crucial to preserve those values, it grants them the burden to prove not only the cultural and family values of each individual and nuclear family in Indonesia, but also to define what is normal. 

And it is safe to say that the definition they are going to make is not an all-size fit. Humans are dynamic beings, coming from diverse upbringings, and each event they experienced makes them what they are. It is, therefore, difficult to devise a standardised normal, let alone expect everyone to abide to them especially with the fact that Indonesia is a diverse country with different cultural values as well as a country that has sworn to protect that diversity from being dispersed.

Freedom for All, but...?
The Family Endurance bill is not the first time the government has attempted to intervene with the private space of their people---during the New Order era, family was told to be the pillars of stability of the nation, and this became the rationale as to why the government passed the Marriage Bill No.1/1974 that clearly allowed men to have more wives when their first was unable to conceive a child. 

This bill successfully reduced women to stay-at-home mothers and only would become useful to the society when they bear a child. Of course, it isn't the only thing that should be held accountable to the minimisation of women's role in the society, but it has contributed to the prejudice that is protected for decades to come.

It is interesting for one to note that, on the Preamble of The Constitution of Republic of Indonesia of 1945, the government of Indonesia stated clearly how "... independence is a genuine right of all nations and any form of alien occupation should thus be erased from the earth as [it is] not in conformity with humanity and justice" and then to think to themselves how Indonesia, as a nation that has become independent for 75 years, has yet to practice what it first preached. 

When this bill is passed, women would again be reduced to nothing but a second-class citizen whose job is to breed out as much children as possible who would then become a part of the labour force when they grow up, after years upon years of fighting for their rights to have their own choice and not bound by anybody, especially the government.

This bill will not only strip women off their rights, it will also affect those who have the rights to practice their bodily autonomy, even when they have consented to do so. A citizen's sexuality, sexual activities, and other activities pertaining to how one does things to their bodies should not be a problem regulated by the government as long as there is consent given. 

Even when rehabilitations, as the people proposing this bill mentioned, occur in real life, no one would be able to guarantee that these rehabilitations are going to be ethical and humane, especially with the pre-existing hate and fear-mongering towards the people they refer in the bill.

The Post-Apocalyptic Separation from Freedom
Freedom is the capability for a human being to act or not to act as one chooses to prefer without any external compulsion or restraint. Freedom is the ability to roam out of one's house to their workplace, recreation sites, and to experience the wonders of the world. Freedom is the right to exercise one's rights without having to be intervened so deeply by the government.

As social beings, human craves for freedom as well as human interaction. During these times, we have seen how people wail and yearn to come back to the streets, to exercise their rights to work and to perform activities outside the physical boundaries of their houses. 

For a lot of people, self-isolation could very well be the trigger to their stress, and rightfully so---a study has shown that a lack of social connection heightens health risks as much as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day and it is twice as harmful as obesity (Perspectives on Psychological Science, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2015). For the good of the collective, most with the right minds would opt to stay at home, but it will not be too long until they break free once the pandemic subsides.

Should the unthinkable happens---should the bill is passed after the pandemic ends---the government is going to be gifting us a gift of psychological chains, cages, and disrespect. After being home-bound for so long, how would it be ethical for the people across the country to be regulated down to their mundane lives that went on within the boundaries of their humble abodes? 

Humans are well aware of their rights, and when their rights are violated by the people that has sworn to protect and be of service towards them, it will not take a long while for another unthinkable to happen---the people breaking away from their cages and turning against the ones forcing them to stay inside.