AUG 15 1998

               Crowds throng Aware's exhibition on Rapes



Some visitors shed tears as they sign the two
petitions that will be sent to President Habibie
and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

               By ZUZANITA ZAKARIA

               WITHIN the first hour, nearly 200 people thronged the exhibition on organized rapes in Indonesia,
which was launched by the Association of Women for
Action and Research (Aware) yesterday. Some
visitors were in tears as they signed the two
petitions, which Aware hopes to send to Jakarta
and to the United Nations.

               By 5 PM, 1,000 people had put their names down.

               Madam Hamimah Abdul Aziz, 42, a teacher,
was in tears as she said: "I kept thinking,
what if it happens to my own daughter?

               "The young ones who suffered must be helped . . .
or they will grow up rebellious and wanting to
seek revenge for what they have been put through."
The event at Aware's Center at Dover Crescent
is the start of a two-week campaign
to gather signatures.

               The petitions to Indonesian President B.J. Habibie and the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, Mrs. Mary Robinson, call for more support
to be given to the rape victims of the
       Indonesian riots in May. They will be sent out
next month. They call for widespread
condemnation of the organized rapes.
         They also ask for help and compensation
for the victims and their families, and for
the crimes to be investigated and punished.

               The petition to the UN calls for
economic and political sanctions
against Indonesia if it fails to act.

  The exhibition included rape accounts and
photographs, taken from the Internet, of people
believed to be rape victims. But Aware could not
verify if they were indeed victims of the May riots
and of the East Timorese women raped in January.

Forty volunteers and staff from Singapore Malay
Youth Library Organization, better known as
Taman Bacaan, were also there.

        In a statement, it described the rapes as
"an abomination and a sin (haram) of the
utmost gravity that is deplored not
only in  Islam but also in all other religious
persuasions that we know of".

           It also commended the Indonesian government's
move to set up an independent body to
investigate the riots and rapes.

  But the Singapore National Front, a Malay-based
opposition party, questioned Aware's motive
in organizing the exhibition when Singapore
was having "a difficult time with both its
Muslim neighbors".

   It said it would undermine efforts to achieve
better relations with the Indonesian government,
and may lead Chinese Singaporeans to
hate indigenous Singaporeans.

      In her speech, former Aware president Constance
Singam said she was concerned about the
ethnic dimension, but added:

   "It is also important to note, however,
that this is not only an attack on women,
not only an attack on one group."

         And it was Indonesian women of all races
and religions who told the world about
their plight, she said.

         Those who wish to sign the petitions may call Aware on
         779-7137 or through its website at www.aware.org.sg

             Aware's president, Dr Phyllis Chew, said Aware plans to send a delegation to Indonesia to talk to
women's groups there about helping the victims.

   She said: "When it happened to the Bosnian
women, it was too far away for us to
understand. But this time, it is just next door."

HOMEPAGE PERKOSAAN:
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