The Indonesian Army has claimed to have scrapped the required virginity tests on female recruits, following human rights groups call to ban the invasive vaginal exams.
Disclosing this is the Army Chief of staff, Andika Perkasa to reporters in Balikpapan on Indonesia’s section of Borneo island on Thursday, stating that the tests which had been standard practice for decades, had been abolished earlier this year.
“Previously, it was part of the assessment (for female recruits), but now we are no longer doing it,” he said, adding that “The army always tries to learn and improve things within the organisation.”
The military had long defended the unscientific “two-finger test” to check if a cadet’s hymen was intact as a way to weed out recruits whose past sexual behaviour, they said, would damage its image.
The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) welcomed the news — calling the tests “discriminatory and intrusive” — but cautioned they needed evidence the practice had ended.
