The Jakarta International School has been subject of domestic and international media scrutiny following the arrest of six outsourced janitors in April. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)
Jakarta. The Jakarta International School has become a focal point of a child sexual abuse investigation, casting the public’s attention to the way Indonesia deals with child protection.
Police fact-finding efforts are currently underway to trace the truth behind allegations that teachers were involved in the sexual abuse of two 6-year-old boys, both of whom were students at the international school’s kindergarten in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta.
Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said police confiscated a camera and a flash disk as evidence during a impromptu night raid conducted at the school on June 13.
One of the victims, accompanied by his mother, was reportedly present during the raid and was asked to lead officers to where the alleged assault took place.
“The evidence is being processed to find a connection between the electronic equipment we found and the witness’ testimonies,” Rikwanto said. “We’re trying to discover whether the assailants had used the [confiscated] camera to record the [alleged] incident.”
Investigators of the Jakarta Regional Police, or Polda Metro Jaya, have requested three JIS teachers — one of whom was revealed to be an Indonesian citizen — to undergo a line of questioning as witnesses next week.
The witnesses will also be subject to a routine medical examination, according to Rikwanto.
JIS has been subject of domestic and international media scrutiny following the arrest of six outsourced janitors in April for their alleged involvement in the repeated sexual assault of a student.
One of the suspects reportedly died in custody in what appeared to be an act of suicide, after drinking cleaning fluids in a police station bathroom.
Deportation
Although no teachers or direct employees of the prestigious school have been officially declared as suspects by police, the Indonesian Commission for Child Protection (KPAI) has taken upon itself to publicly accuse members of JIS kindergarten’s teaching staff of assaulting a 6-year-old in a separate incident.
The three JIS employees, including the principal of the school’s early childhood campus, have since fought back by filing a lawsuit against the victim’s mother for slander, and are considering to take the same legal measures against KPAI.
Some fear the increased dramatics carried out in front of the media is only drawing attention away from the purpose of recent police investigations.
“These teachers were supposed to take care of the children, give them an education and watch over them, but they failed in the latter,” said Arist Merdeka Sirait, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA).
“Suddenly, they were named violators for staying in the country with expired living permits, and viewed as responsible for the fact that the kindergarten had been operating without a license,” Arist told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday.
Twenty of 23 JIS teachers were deported on June 6 over visa technicalities dug up in the wake of the scandal — an incident that would likely garner more attention than the case of sexual assault itself, Arist lamented.
As a result, further crackdowns and subsequent deportations of foreign citizens found to have broken one of the country’s immigration laws in the slightest way, would increase while the core of the matter — the abuse of a minor — would fade from public interest, he added.
“The deportation issue, to me, is [merely] a diversion to deflect attention from the school’s administrative mistakes,” he said.
Protecting our children
Indonesia has seen a dramatic escalation in the number of reported cases involving sexual violence against children, according to Komnas PA data.
In 2010, the commission received 2,046 reports of child abuse, 42 percent of which included sexual assault.
The figure jumped to a staggering 62 percent from 2,637 reports two years later and the numbers only seem to continue to increase.
Komnas PA revealed that it has followed up on 670 cases relating to 890 sexually abused children in Jakarta during the first four months of this year alone.
The maximum sentence handed down to convicted child sex offenders is 15 years in prison, but the country’s judiciary system rarely implements the penalty, and most offenders are released before completing their minimum sentence of two to three years.
In an effort to tackle the problem, the KPAI teamed up with Pasukan Jarik, a grassroots movement dedicated to revising and toughening the laws on child protection by questioning existing policies and calling for harsher sentencing.
If suspects are proven guilty of sexually assaulting a minor, they will be sentenced under the country’s child protection laws, but not its general criminal laws, Nathalina Naibaho, a lecturer of regulations governing child protection at the University of Indonesia, told the Jakarta Globe in an interview on Thursday.
Suspects with foreign citizenship would not be exempt from the regulations, nor would they be given any leeway, she added.
Negligence
All parties directly involved in a child’s life must do whatever they can to foster a high level of safety and security — both in the home and at school, Nathalina said.
When adults become negligent and bring their guards down, it is the child who ultimately suffers, she added.
Upon hearing the details of the alleged sexual assault at JIS, the university lecturer questioned the school’s safety measures, saying additional steps should have been taken to protect its students.
“Why did the school only rely on CCTV cameras? It would be more effective to have security guards routinely patrol the campus, especially to rooms without CCTV’s,” Nathalina said.
Anggi Aulina, a criminologist from the University of Indonesia, emphasized the importance of building stronger ties between educational and government institutions as a preventive measure.
“Maintaining cooperation with law enforcement agencies is crucial. Joint activities with the Ministry of Education and Culture that work on protecting children and preventing abuse are also needed,” Anggi told the Globe on Saturday. “A reluctance — from either side — to cooperate and the absence of a smooth avenue of communication would only lead to problems in identifying and processing crimes committed at schools.”
One of the most challenging aspects of identifying a victim of sexual abuse is medical verification, which must be carried out immediately, Nathalina said.
However, this task may be problematic in small city hospitals and remote regions of the country, where medical facilities lack the appropriate equipment needed to perform forensic examinations, such as a rape kit.
Seeking justice
Although members of the public and the media are often quick to accuse law enforcers of botching the investigation when a case is not settled, a number of factors may have come into play to interrupt justice from being done, Nathalina said.
The victim’s family often becomes an obstacle in cases of child abuse, with some members opting to retract their police report out of fear or embarrassment, she said.
In some instances, Nathalina added, a relative is guilty of committing the assault, pushing the child’s parents to drop the charges to avoid further family discord.
And while the police are meant to be a symbol of protection to a community, many Indonesians still harbor feelings of fear and distrust toward the nation’s law enforcers. As a result, victims of a crime are often reluctant to report the incident.
“The fact is, some people are more comfortable reporting such cases to non-formal institutions, which are seen as the more available option,” Anggi said. “Hence, law enforcement and protection can be carried out through politics, or social organizations and other informal agencies within a community.
“In fact, the government’s efforts in handling cases of abuse against minors have only been met with criticism,” she added, as the country’s laws on the matter lack the necessary austerity the public deems appropriate in dealing with cases of horrific abuse.
KPAI chairman Asrorun Niam recently announced the issuance of a presidential instruction, or Inpres, which appointed the child protection commission a crucial role in tackling crimes of sexual violence against children throughout the archipelago.
According to the Inpres, KPAI now possesses the authority to function as a mediator, investigator and monitor of children involved in such cases.
“The trend of sexual violence against minors have dramatically increased over the years; we must work to stop this. Therefore, KPAI will always be in the front lines to protect the children,” he told the Globe on Friday.
By Vita A.D. Busyra & Bayu MarhaenjatiJ on 08:30 am Jun 23, 2014
