The wRap Indonesia: Nov. 24, 2014

JAKARTA, Indonesia – What Indonesian coach Alfred Riedl has to say about the 2-2 draw with Vietnam and an online petition to end the Indonesian National Police’s controversial virginity tests lead our wrap of stories from Indonesia over the weekend. 

1. After draw with Vietnam, Indonesia looking to win vs Philippines

Indonesia’s dramatic 2-2 draw on Saturday, November 22, with hosts Vietnam at the AFF Suzuki Cup opener should serve as a boost for the four-time finalist, which goes up against the Philippines’ Azkals on Tuesday. “When you get rewarded in these kind of matches it should help you for the coming challenges and each match for us at this level helps us improve our fitness, and hopefully we can see it in the next matches and then the second round,” Indonesia coach Alfred Riedl said, according to the official AFF Suzuki Cup website. The Azkals currently lead Group A with 3 points after a 4-1 win over Laos also on Saturday.

2. Retired policewoman starts petition to end ‘discriminatory’ virginity tests

Irawati Harsono, a retired policewoman and lecturer at the Graduate School of Police Sciences in Jakarta, set up an online petition on change.org on Friday, November 21, to urge National Police Chief Gen. Sutarman to end the controversial virginity tests imposed on female applicants. “The virginity test is not a relevant indicator to measure the morality of policewomen. Many policewomen consider the test degrading and it violates women’s rights. Virginity is a personal matter,” said Irawati, a former commissioner of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan). The issue resurfaced on Tuesday, November 18, when Human Rights Watch urged the National Police to halt “discriminatory” virginity tests.

3. Jokowi in the top 10 for TIME Person of the Year

After 5 days of voting, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is in the 10 of figures people want TIME magazine to name as its Person of the Year. He’s at number 7 with 2.8% of the votes cast, just below American actress and LGBT advocate Laverne Cox. Leading the poll is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with 13.5% and Russian President Vladimir Putin with 6.6%. The reader’s choice poll ends December 6 and will be announced 2 days later, but the actual TIME Person of the Year will still be chosen by its editors. 

4. Construction of Jakarta airport train begins

Construction of the much-anticipated train that will bring people from the Manggarai Station in South Jakarta to the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport began last week with the airport train station, Kompas daily reported. The train station alone will cost an estimated IDR193 billion ($15.8 million) and is expected to be completed by December 2015. The station will later be connected directly to the airport terminals. Officials warn, though, that traffic might be affected around the airport area because of the construction.

5. Jokowi film pulled from theaters after one day of showing

It was hyped up for months, but the film “Jokowi Adalah Kita” (“Jokowi Is Us”) was pulled from theaters just one day after it started screening on November 20. Producer KK Dheeraj said they were advised by a group of Jokowi volunteers to delay showing the film because of the heated political situation caused by the fuel price hike, according to Kompas.com. The fuel price hike that went into effect on November 18 has seen small-scale protests in different parts of the country and anti-Jokowi hashtags trending on Twitter. The film depicts Jokowi’s journey from the small town of Solo to the presidency of the largest Southeast Asian country. The producer said they would wait for the situation to cool down first before showing the film again. – Rappler.com