“Qanun bak putro phang,,,reusam bak laksamana”
That is one of the Acehnese proverbs. This sentence roughly means: women have a very important role in society, especially in development issues. It is not only men who have to play a role in the development process, but women can too. This is clearly illustrated from the history of Aceh from the past.
The sentence also shows that in the administration of the old Acehnese kingdom government led by Sultan Iskandar Muda (1607-1636), there was always a clear allocation of power distribution, between the executive, judicative, legislative, and administrative. Therefore, at that time power was also owned by men and women.
During the Kingdom of Aceh, we can also see the history of the Aceh version of the division of power a century before Montesqui’s Trias Politica (1748). In the Aceh House of Representatives (DPR), the Kingdom of Aceh was proven during the sultanate period, that 17 of the 73 members of the Acehnese Kingdom’s People’s Court Hall (Balai Mahkamah Rakyat Kerajaan Aceh) were women. This structure in the Kingdom of Aceh then proved that the role of women and men was very important considering that women were represented at that time as much as 30%.
During the period of the Kingdom of Aceh, I also noted that Aceh had good goals for society, both men and women, and had equal roles between men and women in the Acehnese traditional system and development.
However, nowadays the role of women in Aceh is seen as weak people as if they can only act as housewives and take care of domestic work. Why did this change happen so drastically? How can negative views of women be eliminated so that women have the same rights and roles in Aceh’s development as men?
Let’s review a little about the obligations of the Acehnese government and the city and district governments towards women in Aceh that should be done for women. In article 231 of the Aceh Government Law, the people of Aceh are obliged to promote and protect women’s rights and empower them with dignity. In addition, the qanun (Islamic criminal code) and Law No. 11 of 2006 concerning the Aceh government have provided opportunities for 30% women’s representation in various aspects of development in Aceh.
The explanation explains that actually women and men have the same role in Aceh without the slightest sense of difference, but in Aceh, there are still a lot of women’s problems, women are still considered a source of problems, and their role has not been widely involved.
Whereas if women are empowered, it will greatly help increase their participation in the development process, improve the quality of life for women to have a balanced role with men in various relevant aspects of life, provide guarantees for women to be able to fulfill women’s rights as human beings and provide a sense of security to women in all areas of life because it is one of the rights of women that must be fulfilled.
Women and development in Aceh have a close relationship. Development will not be good without the role of women because development must be carried out to achieve the goals of the state and society through various activities including in the fields of politics, social culture, and business. With this, it is enough to prove that the role of women will stand out and be balanced with men, especially in development. This is one way for women to continue their lives both economically, culturally, socially, and politically.
Not only see that women do not have the right to all of it, but women have room for all of them.
The government in Aceh should be able to take a deeper look, don’t just think about small things. Let’s see that there are still many things that the city government has to pay attention to run well. Because 5 years is not a short time to be able to fix everything but it is a time that the government can use to fix everything to be better in the future.
(Foto/ ilustrasi: Pixabay)
