REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SURABAYA -- Lawmaker in Surabaya, East Java Province, is promoting the establishment and the use of "Pos Curhat" as a sharing platform for local residents to overcome domestic violence at village level.

Member of Commision D of Surabaya's legislative assembly (DPRD) Dyah Katarina said here on Sunday that the "Pos Curhat", sort of a post to confide, was established and aimed not only to prevent domestic violence but also to educate people to report such incident.

"Through the Pos Curhat, we hope problems of domestic violence can be resolved in it, and it would be unnecessary to involve the Police," Katarina said, adding that the post acts as a mediator.

"We could summon the chief of neighborhood as the mediator, for example," she said.

Domestic violence or domestic abuse is a pattern of behavior which involves violence or other abuse by one person in a domestic context against another such as in marriage or cohabitation.

Domestic violence may relate to a number of forms including physical, emotional, verbal, economic and sexual abuse.

However, it would be a challenge for the post as it would only involve volunteers from the Family Welfare Movement Program (PKK) Team.

"They have to be good listeners and problem solvers. Blaming and judging are not in favour," Katarina said.

To create such cadres, some academician from the psychology faculty of local university have been involved.

The Pos Curhat was initiated in 2008 and now is managed by the Community Empowerment Office (Bapemas) of Surabaya.

Local residents, mostly housewives, have been coming to the post in effort to solve their problems, Katarina said.

"However, the Pos Curhat has no authority to summon the disputants. Those who consult to the post are only given suggestions to solve the problem," she said.

"If the case is criminal in nature, we would tell them to report it to the police," Katarina said.

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