Stop Sudah English-revised-March2012 - International Center for ...

ought her back. Her husband once brought home a woman from Manado who asked, “Mister, who is
that woman?” But the husband did not acknowledge his wife and children. One child sought work in
Timika; if he found some, he wanted his mother to join him. “[My husband] liked to drink in cafes. If there
was money, he always left. When he’d come home he’d say, that we weren’t like the women there [in the
cafe]. Ordered to do this or that [sexual services], they were just willing.” 74
A woman in Manokwari married her husband in church two years ago, but they had been living together
since 1989. When they first started living together everything was fine, but after their fourth child was born
about 1998-99, the husband started beating his wife.
I was hit with a coconut palm leaf that had sharp thorns . . . my head needed three stitches and I was taken to the
hospital . . . [I reported it] and my husband went to jail for eight months. But, after got out, he . . . beat me again
with a block [of wood]. I reported it to the police, but my husband had a brother who was a police officer who
removed my demand . . . My husband then lived with another woman . . . in March 2009 . . . One time . . . [he]
pulled me off a motorcycle. After that, I was afraid to leave the house, afraid I’d meet my husband and that he’d kill
me . . . Now, I live in my father’s house [with my parents]. 75
In August 2008, a woman’s husband had a customary marriage with another woman, a widow, at the village
office. The first wife was forced to sign a letter of consent accepting this second marriage. At one point, the
first wife had a quarrel with her husband’s second wife. Not long after that, when the first wife was getting
ready for church, she was beaten black and blue by her husband, who slashed her left temple with a razor
blade and hit her body and head until there were wounds. Those in front of the church intervened. As a
result of frequent physical violence, the first wife can no longer carry heavy things on her head. She also
experiences stress because she is separated from her husband and must take full responsibility for her two
children. 76
For four years the victim has suffered domestic violence by her husband who works at P.T. Freeport in
Timika. As the legal wife, the victim asks for her husband’s salary to care for the children, but usually she
gets only a portion of the bank transfers. Wives of other Freeport employees experience the same thing.
The victim complained, “I never know where his salary goes, how much his salary is, which department he
works in. My husband is never open.” The husband married again, a woman from Ambon who lived in a
rented house in Timika. The second wife gave birth in May 2009. The husband wanted to accompany the
child from his second wife when it was to be baptized and also wanted to bring the second wife to the
village, but the first wife did not want this. The problem has been dealt with twice according to local
custom, but to no avail. The first wife is disappointed; every night she prays. She rebukes her husband and
the second wife, “You two know the ‘ten commandments’ [God’s 10 Commandments in the Bible], but
you do not follow them.” 77
74 Field notes on BIA24 case.
75 MAN06 narrative.
76 Field notes on WAM03 case.
77 Field notes on BIA18 case.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! 40