Sexual Abuse Tragedy at Jakarta International School Exposes Ignorance

The sexual assault tragedy that has taken place at the Jakarta International School sparked massive attention and concern among both Indonesians and expatriates. Since the tragedy was announced, it made headlines all over the country. But there is a lot more to this case than the “mere” criminal act of alleged sexual assault of a young boy.

Some media wrote about a so-called emergency situation created by “pedophiles and homosexuals,” which shows that this tragic case has been used provocatively to discredit an already-marginalized group in Indonesia, namely homosexuals.

Additionally, when looking at this case we should not ignore issues of social hierarchy and the wide economic gap between the alleged perpetrators and the people or the institution they worked for. This is another crucial factor in determining how this particular case is being handled by government institutions, the school and the media.

Blaming the victim, and others

Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) chairamn Asrorun Niam Sholeh spoke to Tribunnews.com about what he said was indecent behavior of JIS students and teachers. He said he had received reports about physical contact between teachers and students, and intimate relationships between female and male students. Others also criticized female students at JIS for their allegedly “sexy” wardrobe. Generally, the students’ behavior and clothes were being associated with “Western values.”

In addition, Asrorun also mentioned that he received a report about a gay teacher working at JIS, which was also mentioned by Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto, who said “The suspect is a janitor who can be categorized as gay.” The police spokesman added the categorization of “mental illness.”

The KPAI and the Jakarta Police are two of the most important institutions handling this case. Parents of victims are counting on these organizations to bring the perpetrators to justice.

So, rather than focusing on the behavior of students who are victims of sexual abuse, the KPAI should be concentrating on the protection of the students from sexual predators — whoever they are. The only message the KPAI should be sending out to the public is that an adult should not be allowed to abuse a child, regardless of what clothes that child is wearing and whether or not the child socializes with other children — boys or girls.

OurVoice Indonesia is an organization that has been working for several years on the issue of gender diversity and justice. Under the leadership of Hartoyo, OurVoice is also very active in promoting justice for victims of sexual abuse.

The organization has expressed its concerns about the JIS tragedy — and especially about the apparent attempt by some parties involved to link this issue with homosexuality.

On April 17, OurVoice sent a protest letter to Rikwanto, demanding that the Jakarta Police prioritize punishing the perpetrators and unequivocally consider the students at JIS as victims.

OurVoice also explains in the letter that pedophilia should be seen as sexual acts performed by an adult on a child (a boy or a girl). Thus, a pedophile is not the same as a homosexual: a male or female who is sexually and emotionally attracted to people of the same gender.

The protest letter rightly expresses the fear that statements that may cause confusion about these two separate categories could lead to hatred of and violence towards openly gay people in Indonesia. And importantly, the organization stresses that better education can solve many problems regarding gender and sexuality in this country.

Social status

Every day in Indonesia, there are many cases of rape and sexual abuse. However, rarely do these cases get the amount of media attention as did the case at JIS.

There are women, transgenders and kids who are not as privileged as the victims associated with this prestigious institute who have suffer just as much physically and emotionally. This is not to disparage the suffering of all those hurt by the JIS tragedy, but too often, the traumatic experiences of other victims are simply overlooked in this country.

JIS is known as a school for children of diplomats and expatriate businesspeople. As a consequence, this school has been receiving exceptional attention from not only the media, but also the police, the government and the public. It didn’t take very long for police to take a number of suspects into custody. They were low-income cleaning personnel who could not afford a lawyer and few worry about whether they will be treated correctly. In fact, one suspect apparently committed suicide under suspicious circumstances while in police custody.

It is not unlikely that — had the social positions of victims and perpetrators been reversed — the case would not even have seen the light of day.

Sex education

As Indonesians, for a long time we have been hiding behind norms and values that we believed could save us and our children from sexual violence, unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. We also are very proud of the traditions that we think can protect our own freedom and personal liberation in the face of our own depravations.

But we cannot watch our children 24/7. They will at some point in their lives be confronted with questions about sexuality and possibly with undesirable sexual behavior of others.

We, as parents, the state, educational institutions — as society at large — should provide our children with a better understanding of gender, sex and sexuality. Only then can we hope that all sexual abuse cases, if not prevented, will at least be seen for what they are, and tackled, regardless of the social status of the victim, by a law enforcement system that knows the difference between homosexuality and pedophilia.

Tanti Noor Said is an anthropologist.