Hands off

WHAT does it take to be a good soldier? Courage? Loyalty? Respect for the Geneva Conventions? Yes, yes, but for the Indonesian army, if a new recruit is a woman, she must also be a virgin. Those who have sex before marriage are immoral, top brass insist, and so cannot be trusted to defend the country. Also, male officers might wish to marry their female comrades-in-arms, so it is essential that they be pure. Hence the “virginity tests” to which new recruits are subjected: doctors check to see if their hymens are intact.Until recently, virginity tests were also compulsory for female police officers in Indonesia. Senior officers say they were ended last year, after complaints from groups such as Human Rights Watch. But there are worries that, at least in some parts of the country, they have been rebranded as “reproductive-health tests” (see ). Fear of undergoing such a test is one reason why so few Indonesian women have joined the police; only 3% of the force is female. And that means the police are less good at protecting women, many of whom are reluctant to report rape or domestic violence to a male officer.