The little-known history of comfort women in Indonesiapublished at 13:56 British Summer Time
13:56 BST
Ayomi Amindoni
BBC Indonesia
Warning: this post contains distressing details
Under Japanese occupation, hundreds of thousands in Asia – from South Korea to China to the Philippines – were taken as “comfort women”, forced into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers during World War Two.
In Indonesia, the stories of these women – also known as “ianfu” – were largely buried until the 1990s, when Tuminah, from the city of Solo, became the first survivor to speak out about the sexual violence she had endured.
She had been working as a sex worker in 1944 when she was rounded up by Japanese military police and held in a brothel along with other women.
“In that hotel, I was there for days, I was very tired, both mentally and physically,” Tuminah’s niece, Hening Saptaningsih, recalled her saying. “If I could choose, I wouldn’t want to live like that, because it’s painful for me.”
Tuminah’s testimony has encouraged other Indonesian survivors to come forward. Some of girls had been taken to similar premises, under false promises of becoming actors in a travelling troupe.
Another survivor previously told BBC Indonesian that she was only nine years old when a Japanese officer raped her for four days straight.
Japan has issued formal apologies for the comfort women issue, but these efforts have been deemed insincere by some survivors and advocates.
Meanwhile, some Indonesians say their own government has failed comfort women seeking reparations and closure.
“How can I put it? Indonesia seems to have forgotten about the ianfu issue,” Hening told BBC Indonesia. It’s “futile” to ask for measures to “improve their status”, she said. “The Indonesian government won’t listen.”