The woman under the scarf: an interview with Primastuti Handayani

In my previous blog post about a French court case denying a Muslim woman citizenship on the basis that her burqa prevented her from adequately assimilating in France, I wrote, "in its drawing a connection between burqas and female submission, the holding also seems ignorant of the plurality of Islamic women's attitudes about being veiled."  When I wrote that sentence, I was thinking of Primastuti Handayani ("Yani"), the managing editor of The Jakarta Post, pictured left.  She and I had met at a recent conference on HIV and AIDS, and we'd chatted about the headscarf she was wearing.  At the time, she'd articulated a rationale for her headscarf that was both nuanced and empowering.  Appropos of my previous blog post, I wrote to her, asking for elaboration.  Her responses (edited slightly to adjust for the format) are below.   

1.  How many women in your family wear headscarves?
Only my younger sister and I wear headscarves in my family (my parents have three daughters), but my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law also wear headscarves.

2.  When did they start wearing them?  Did you grow up with women wearing headscarves in your family or in your neighborhood?
My sister began wearing a headscarf about a year earlier than I did.  I began in December 2005, so basically it's still a new thing for me.  I didn't really grow up in a "devoted" Muslim family because, although most of my family are from Javanese ethnic group, we have different religions.  My grandmother (on my mother's side) was a Buddhist, my paternal grandfather was agnostic, my other grandparents followed "Kejawen" beliefs, which are not really a religion.  My sisters and I went to Catholic schools until we graduated from junior high (except the youngest who continued going to Catholic high school and unversity).  And in my neighborhood, most of my neighbors are from Chinese descents and most of them are Christians. So my environment growing up was a bit of mixing this and that.

3.  Why did you personally decide to wear a headscarf?
It is written in the Koran, and I thought I would be ready to wear one.  But it took me three months to think about it, asking my seniors and colleagues and a few ullemas about my wish and most of them left my decision to me.  So I was fully aware of the consequences when I decided to wear headscarves.

4.  Do you consider your headscarf an expression of religious belief, Indonesia culture or both?
I think it is more on a religious belief.  In my culture (Javanese), the traditional costume called kebaya shows a bit of our body although it has long sleeves and long dresses and you have to style your hair in a bun --  although today many of us prefer not to wear those except at wedding ceremonies (hahahaha).  Also, I think for many Muslim women in Indonesia, the way we dress is more fashionable and more up-to-date compared to, let say, the Middle East. We can still wear jeans, suits (like for office workers), long-sleeves T-shirts and tunics. Indonesian Muslim women's attire is really beautiful, with embroideries, beads and other accessories.

5.  Do you feel differently about a headscarf and a burqa?  For example, do you findi t difficult to communicate with or relate to women whose faces are covered by veils?
Personally I don't really think it's necessary to cover our face by veils.  First, I'm a journalist, and it'd be impossible for me to work wearing a burqa because my newsources wouldn't recognize me.  Second, my teacher told me that a burqa is more of an Arabic costume than what Islam teaches us to wear.  (Hopefully, my opinion won't spark protest hahahaha.)

6.  Do you think there are some instances where headscarves are oppressive to women?
I don't think the headscarves are oppressive to women, they're just fabrics.  I think people's stigma and discrimination to women wearing headscarves matter more. Also, what's beneath the headscarf is more important than the headscarves themselves.  I believe Muslim women could stand out and do something for their family, their country and their religion.  In most families, especially in Indonesia's big cities, women are more dominant than men, in the sense that they do more multi tasking -- they handle family issues, workplaces and social lives.  But there is still a sad phenomenon especially in villages where women, not only Muslims, don't really have the chance to voice their concerns on numerous issues.  They are still treated as properties instead of individuals.  In this case, the oppression is not about religion, but more about gender issues.

7.  Now that you wear a headscarf, are there any things that are harder to do than when you didn't wear a headscarf?  Easier?
No more hangouts hahahaha ... well, not really because I never enjoyed hangout at clubs before wearing the headscarves.  The hardest thing is actually going abroad and facing immigration officers in different countries. They often looked at me with suspicion -- I can deal with it -- and I couldn't blame them especially after the 9/11 tragedy.  Some friends still feel uncomfortable if they want to drink alcohol or talk dirty in front of me, but I actually don't care if they do.  Things are getting easier in terms of no men on the streets screaming at me, calling me "fatty" or other rude words.  Maybe they think I'm a very nice lady and don't deserve to be mistreated hahahaha.

8.  What's the rationale for the requirement in the Koran that women be covered?
  The Koran says it is better for women to cover their whole body to protect themselves because centuries ago women were treated badly.  And I think it's still relevant to today's situation, although today is much much better than before.

9.  What have you told your daughter about wearing a headscarf?  Do you encourage her to wear one?
I never encourage her to wear headscarves although she really looks beautiful wearing it.  I just teach her how to pray, tell her stories from Koran (those which can be understood by a 6-year-old girl) and tell her values, both Islamic and Javanese values, that she must obey.  If one day she wants to wear headscarves too, that will be her choice and not my order. Life is full of choices anyway.

(Photo courtesy of LG Sangnam Press Foundation.)