Being a woman is political. Being a Muslim woman in a Muslim majority country is political by design. Indonesia’s so called Population Control Program since Suharto era, has never been about a balance or care. It’s always been about creating workers, but that part is silent. The State calls it Planned Family or Keluarga Berencana (KB), which literally translates to family planning, but it’s rooted in a deeper cultural norm: the belief that a woman’s worth is defined by her reproductive system. Using children as a tool for controlling society to keep worshiping capitalism, especially when framed with religion, is truly something else. KB or Keluarga Berencana has been in place since Suharto’s regime, with the aim of controlling population growth, sure, but in reality, it’s become a method of controlling women’s bodies and choices, placing the burden of family planning solely on women while leaving men out of the conversation. Keluarga Berencana is the state’s answer to reducing population, but it’s never about women’s health or autonomy. The pressure is always on women. We bear the burden of family planning. While men are pampered from birth, they are taught they can be useless and still be praised as providers, they live in confusion, torn between worshiping their mother and controlling their wife. And that confusion is seen as a kind of depth. Be serious. KB is never about family wellness at this point, really, it’s about state sanctioned reproductive exploitation. Meanwhile, the Majelis Ulama Indonesia, or MUI (the Indonesian Ulema Council) declared vasectomy haram or forbidden, but the system is fine with women enduring hormonal side effects, mental breakdowns, chronic pain, without real options or informed consent. The MUI has a significant influence over public policy in Indonesia, including ruling on issues like contraception. Their stance on reproductive health is often based on disturbing interpretations of Islamic law. ‘Why disturbing?’ You might ask, because it’s never rooted in justice and equity that Islam is always about, which affects women disproportionately. The MUI’s declaration that vasectomy is haram is just one example of how religious authorities used to uphold the burden on women, while men are allowed to avoid responsibility. Men won’t even wear condoms. Vasectomy is branded as haram, yet they scream emasculation, divine order, fitrah. They want all the pleasure, but none of the consequences. KB has shoved pills, injections, implants, coils and even post birth IUDs into women’s bodies. Say no and you are a bad wife. Ungrateful. Selfish. If you refuse you risk abandonment, polygamy, or worse: being blamed for your husband’s infidelity. Even some see KB as haram too. Women are expected to just pop out children every year, can you imagine? Meanwhile, the state and religious bodies stay silent. But ask a man to make a tiny sacrifice, and suddenly they remember rights. No one called it a violation when women were forced to carry babies from sexual assault to birth. No one called it coercion when women were shamed into natural births they didn’t want because their husbands wouldn’t pay for caesarean. No one defended women when they were pushed out of work, isolated from education, and told they could only be treated by unavailable women doctors. Women are expected to bleed, break, and beg for every crumb of support. And then stay cheerful, stay pure, stay desirable. If welfare aid or bansos has always had conditions, why is this one too far? Is it because it’s finally aimed at men? Men are not sacred. Their bodies are not above responsibility. Vasectomy is safer, simpler and often reversible. It’s minimal, it’s maintenance, it’s bare minimum. This is not oppression at all. T...
