Menjembatani Luka Perempuan ke Arah Pembebasan dan Perubahan Kebijakan

Abstract

This article charts my journey of becoming a human and women’s rights activist through an autoethnographic lens, situating my personal experiences within broader political struggles. Using autoethnography, I weave my life narrative with cultural critique to highlight how individual experiences are entangled with social structures. I consistently opposed the militaristic regime of the New Order and the patriarchal legal system and kept fighting for women’s empowerment. Traumas from my youth, when I helplessly watched some of my friends being trapped in forced and abusive marriage practices, motivated me to study law. In this sense, my story affirms the feminist principle that the personal is political: intimate experiences of violence and injustice became the ground for political resistance and legal activism. After graduation, I worked in the fields of human and women’s rights and co-founded several organizations, including Solidaritas Perempuan, APIK, and KPI. I also participated in two major tribunals, the Tokyo Women’s Tribunal 2000 and the IPT 1965. Both within parliament and outside it, I drafted and fought for several laws defending women’s rights, including the Domestic Violence Law. Through collaboration with feminist bureaucrats and academics, I found that personal stories of trauma, when connected to collective feminist knowledge, could transform the social and legal system and contribute to gender, social, and ecological justice.