Social Media Gives Indonesian Women New Voice

Niniek Karmini – ABC News – Wednesday, 20 February 2013 (originally published 18 Feb)

Indonesian Women shout slogans, wave signs, and wave 'power' fists

In this Friday, Dec. 21, 2012 photo, Indonesian women shout slogans during a protest demanding District Chief Aceng Fikri to step down, in Garut, West Java, Indonesia. Image: AP Photo/Kusumadireza

Fikri, chief of Garut district in West Java province, called it quits four days after marrying his teenage bride in July. He claimed she was not a virgin, which she denied.

A photo of the couple posted on the Internet slowly began to stoke chatter — and then rage. The outcry spread by local media and on Twitter, blogs, Facebook and popular mobile phone networking groups such as BlackBerry and Yahoo Messenger.

Thousands of people took to the streets in December to protest. Students and women’s rights activists in Garut demanded that he resign, trampling and spitting on photos of his face before setting them ablaze outside his council building . . .

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