In 2014, three teenage girls rocked their way to fame from a small village in Garut, West Java, Indonesia. Firda ‘Marsya’ Kurnia (lead vocal, guitar), Euis Sitti Aisyah (drums), and Widi Rahmawati (bass) formed a band, Voice of Baceprot (pronounced ba-chey-PROT, means “noise” in a West Java dialect). Fans saw them as female artists who were challenging gender stereotypes and religious norms. The brave, talented teens, all wore the hijab or Islamic headscarves and played rock music. But the band’s performances and garb courted controversy and harsh criticisms too.
The girls say all they wanted was to play music and express themselves. Nine years after they burst into the music scene, Marsya, Sitti, and Widi reflect on how they have found meaning, and their voices in the noise around them.
by Resilience Development Initiative and Aly Diana ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Policy Brief
#7 ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Policy Brief The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Policy Brief is a publication of the ASCC Department at the ASEAN Secretariat. It identifies trends and challenges that will impact ASEAN and ASCC sectors and propose policy-relevant solutions and recommendations to uplift the quality of lives of ASEAN people. This policy brief discusses ASEAN’s progress in developing resilient health systems. It recommends more research and development, supply chain connectivity and resource pooling, and stronger primary health care to improve the ability of countries to deliver the health needs of their population at all times and withstand and respond to future emergencies.
The concept of loss and damage was first raised in the 1991 climate change negotiations by Vanuatu as a facility to compensate small island developing states for the devastating impacts of sea-level rise. Subsequently, the term “loss and damage” has come to be understood as any negative consequences of climate change on economic, social and environmental systems.
Sixty youth representatives from the ASEAN Member States gathered in Jakarta on 10-14 April 2023, for the second ASEAN Youth Dialogue on Digital Development for SDGs. Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Youth and Sports hosted and organised the event.
To welcome the golden anniversary of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation, the newly appointed Ambassador of Japan to ASEAN, Kiya Masahiko, hit the ground running by bringing eight soba masters from Miyagi prefecture to ASEAN. The artisans were in Jakarta on 22 December 2022, to treat the ASEAN Secretariat with delicious soba, a traditional Japanese buckwheat noodle dish.
50 Years of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation
For 2022, the Underwriters Laboratories-ASEAN-US Science Prize for Women was awarded to four outstanding women scientists in the field of artificial intelligence in health and safety.
ASEAN’s cooperation on advancing gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls sits squarely within the region’s ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and intersects with current and emerging challenges, such as demographic shifts, digitalisation of the region, and security issues, among others. With ASEAN asserting its central and strategic role in the Indo-Pacific region, there are widening spaces for women and girls to amplify their voices and for robust, substantive and meaningful representation in building a gender-transformative and resilient ASEAN Community.
Minister I Gusti Ayu Bintang Darmawati talks to The ASEAN about the regional frameworks and plans that embody ASEAN’s strategies for empowering and improving the well-being of women and girls in the region. She also talks about why Indonesia is encouraging countries to adopt the Women- and Children-Friendly City initiative.
