Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

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Hello and thank you for downloading the witness history podcast with me

Petra Jievich. Today I'm bringing you the story of how for decades women wanting to join the police or military in Indonesia

have been subjected to so-called virginity tests.

I've been speaking to a former police woman who has been fighting to abolish the

practice.

I joined the police force in 1985 and I was made to have a virginity test.

This is Sri Rumiati, a psychologist and former Brigadier General in the Indonesian police.

My dream was to run a nursery, but God decided something else for me.

I wasn't interested in the police or the military, but I was called up to do military service in 1984,

the last time it was compulsory.

At that time, Indonesia was still under the authoritarian regime of General Cepharto, the police were part of the armed forces,

and they were keen to have her because they didn't have enough trained psychologists.

Before starting her service, Ramiati was sent to Somerang in central Java for a health checkup. We were asked to go into an obstetrics examination room.

There were two women inside, a doctor and a nurse.

I got on the bed and I was asked to put my legs up while the doctor examined me.

And you know at that time, when you were told to do something by the armed forces, you of course

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