#KitaAGNI and Indonesia's Problem With Sexual Assault
2018 saw Indonesia's academia rocked to its core by the emergence of a sexual assault case that gripped the nation. What started as an issue exclusive to an Indonesian university (Universitas Gadjah Mada) soon transpired into a nationwide introspection towards its handling of sexual assault and harassment cases.
The case in question revolved around two then-students of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM); 'HS', the perpetrator of the incident, and 'Agni', a pseudonym given to the victim. To summarise the timeline of events, both students had been assigned to the same mandatory community service group together in Eastern Indonesia; the incident took place in the summer of 2017 when Agni had chosen to stay at the perpetrator's hotel room rather than her assigned dormitory due to heavy rainfall and poor conditions for travelling from their community service site. Stories of the assault began to circulate within their group and it was not long before action was taken by the university-assigned supervisors. HS was swiftly relocated to another group for apparent "incompatibility" with their group whilst Agni was initially given a sub-standard grade - before being changed due to her appeals later on. However, the university did not take the matter further by forwarding the issue to the police, nor did HS receive any substantial punishment besides having to apologise to Agni and her parents. The matter lay dormant for over a year until the campus press released an article detailing Agni's assault, gaining significant readership, and making the case viral within a matter of days.
Once the larger Indonesian public had taken notice of the case, the hashtag '#KitaAGNI' (we are AGNI) began to trend throughout the country, with people showing sympathy towards the victim, calling out the university for its lacking response to the situation and going as far as to doxx the perpetrator, leaking his identity and social media accounts. The article also detailed the initial reasoning behind Agni's sub-standard grade, citing that a university official insinuated that Agni had the assault coming to her for choosing to stay at the hotel instead of the dormitory and that it (the grade) was a reflection of her part to play in causing the incident to take place.
On a nationwide front, however, Indonesians in their thousands rallied behind Agni and capitalised on the #KitaAGNI uproar to voice their collective concerns towards the country's appalling record of handling cases of sexual assault. Agni had resorted to telling her story through the campus press, rather than the mainstream press, due to the dismissive nature of such cases by the established media and authorities; this was reflected by an earlier survey that claimed 93% of sexual assault victims did not even bother with the process of filing an official legal report - and of those that did, only 1% ever went to trial - due to the societal ramifications of such actions, namely having the blame attached to them for whatever reason. Since then, though the university did eventually come to revise its approaches towards handling cases such as these, Indonesian law and its law enforcement have remained stubbornly unmoved. The apparent lack of trust between victims and the proper authorities has, unfortunately, created a volatile and unprotective atmosphere critical to changing the status quo. Changes to the new criminal code have brought their own set of problems to the discussions surrounding sexual (mis)conduct and it remains to be seen whether the country will rid of this societal issue in the near future.
- Ihsan Wira
This was a very interesting case to read and learn about. In fact it could remind me of many cases that have come up in recent times surrounding academic institutions and their policies to handling sexual assault/harassment cases of university students. One of them which I mentioned during Week 5 seminar is the case in Maastricht University where the student's identity was also kept secret, this time not through a pseudonym but through the collective identity of other students. This I find an interesting part of the cases that the identity of the victim can be hidden and yet without a face can still have such an effect. Secondly, the fact that chose to go through campus press rather than traditional media was also quite an interesting aspect which I found similar to a case that happened right here at EUR https://www.erasmusmagazine.nl/en/2019/06/27/dao-case-does-not-involve-sexually-transgressive-behaviour/
ReplyDeleteHi Sabrina, thank you for your insightful comment! What an interesting approach to take: having the identity be through the collective identity of other students! I do wonder if students have opted to go through the channels of campus press over the traditional media means because they perceive that the former would be less scrutinizing and/or politicized...
DeleteDear Ihsan,
ReplyDeleteSince I do admittedly know very little about Indosia’s society, this was a very insightful read for me. It was interesting to see the similarities between different forms of student activism in an attempt to combat sexual violence on campus. What I found different however, in comparison to a Western context, was a slightly different perception on who is getting victimized in instances of sexual violence. It was surprising to me that HS not only apologized to Agni but also to her parents. I believe that in a Western context, an apology to parents or close familial ties would only be expected if the victim was a minor. Do you think that this type of apology was not only issued to recognize the trauma and hurt that is also caused to the victim’s loved one but also because the sexual assault of women is considered to bring shame to a family?
Hi Sara, thank you for your inquisitive comment! You have also, intentionally or otherwise, allowed me to re-assess my understanding of the contexts you mentioned!
DeleteI do believe that, yes, this type of apology was because the sexual assault of women is considered to bring shame to a family in Indonesia. I guess this is in part because - socially at least - the 'responsibility' (physical, mental and financial well-being, etc.) of the woman is placed firmly on the male 'guarantor'. In this case, the unmarried Agni would have had her paternal figure as her 'guarantor'. You see this in most Muslim countries.