Outrage over plans to introduce virginity tests for girls attending high schools

The district council in Jember in East Java province was said to be drafting 'good conduct' regulations that would have forced girls at high schools to prove they had not had sex before they graduated.

However the proposals were met with fierce criticism from campaigners and Muslim leaders who said they discriminated against girls, and the plans were eventually dropped. 

Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population, places a high value on virginity. 

Last year Indonesian officials admitted doing virginity tests on women seeking to join the police or military even though the practice has no scientific validity, according to the World Health Authority.

The proposals to introduce virginity tests in Jember have now been dropped, but local lawmakers defended the plans and said they hoped they would be extended across the area - home to 2.3million people.

'If they're not virgins any more, don't let them pass,' local lawmaker Mufti Ali was quoted as telling news site Berita.Jatim.com.

'We can't test the boys ... but at least with the regulation, girls will be afraid. The boys will be prevented from the act because girls will become unwilling.'

Indonesia's top Muslim clerics opposed the proposal, saying it discriminated against female students and was contrary to Islamic teachings.

Jember's council deputy speaker Ayub Junaidi apologised and dropped the proposals amid widespread public condemnation of the plan.

'On behalf of the Jember Consultative Council we'd like to apologise to the public, especially to all women and girls across Indonesia,' he told local news site Kompas.com.

Campaign group Human Rights Watch welcomed the decision to halt the proposals but spokesman Andreas Harsono said it was alarming that the test was still used by the police and military. The group has called for an end to tolerance of the tests in the country.

Mr Harsono added: 'It should be stopped ... it is degrading. It isdiscriminatory. It is cruel.'

Indonesia's police force came under fire three months ago for admitting it administered virginity tests for female police applicants to see if their hymen was intact. A police spokesman said the tests were part of a routine health check but there was no requirement for women to be virgins and no discrimination.

In December Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo announced aspiring civil servants and public administrators will no longer be required to undergo the test, but the police force refused to withdraw it. 

The practice, which is supposed to determine if the candidate's hymen is intact, has been widely discredited as unscientific and degrading.

Previous attempts to introduce virginity tests for female students, in South Sumatra in 2013 and in West Java in 2007, also backfired.

(dailymail.co.uk)