Pluit Village Head Admits He Can't Immediately Remove RW 06 Head Suspected Of Harassment Perpetrators

Plt Lurah Pluit, Penjaringan District, North Jakarta, Jason Simanjuntak admitted that his party could not immediately remove the head of RW 06 Pluit with the initials ST who was suspected of harassing women members of the Village Deliberation Institute (LMK) in RW 06.

Although ST is now named a suspect in alleged verbal abuse, Jason admits that the follow-up to ST's position as chairman of RW 06 must go through a RW deliberation forum mechanism which will be held in the near future.

"We cannot immediately deactivate ST as Head of RW 06. We must go through the RW Deliberation Forum mechanism first," Jason said in his statement, Sunday, August 13.

Jason said, the RW deliberation forum mechanism refers to Article 30 letter e of Governor Regulation Number 22 of 2022 concerning Neighborhood Rukun and Citizen Rukun. Meanwhile, the deactivation can only be carried out if ST has received a final legal decision on the case that ensnared him.

"In the rules, ST does not have to be deactivated as Chair of the RW until there is a permanent power Hukung decision," Jason explained.

During the legal process, Jason asked the Secretary of RW 06 to temporarily replace ST's duties as Chair of the RW, as stated in Article 16 Paragraph 2 letter c of Governor Regulation Number 22 of 2022 concerning Neighborhood Rukun and Citizen Rukun.

"The role, duties, and functions of the Head of the RW can be carried out as the Secretary of the RW during ST in the legal process until they get a legal decision with permanent force," he said.

LMK member RW 06 Pluit with the initials RI reported a case of alleged sexual harassment committed by the Head of RW 06 Pluit Village, North Jakarta to the office of Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono at DKI Jakarta City Hall.

RI reported to the DKI Provincial Government that she was a victim of verbal sexual harassment by the Head of RW 06 Pluit with the initials ST. RI asked the DKI Provincial Government to remove ST because the person concerned is still in office.

"Here, we actually want to ask for legal justice. My client was sexually harassed by Mr. RW. However, he is still the head of the RW. Here we want to ask for legal certainty actually," said the victim's attorney, Steven Gono at DKI Jakarta City Hall.

Steven explained that the victim had previously complained about the alleged abuse he had experienced in Pluit Village since last July 26. However, there was no response from the sub-district to the victim.

"We ourselves suspect that the kelurahan seems to have someone in the kelurahan, it seems that someone is protecting the head of this RW. Because, when we tried to contact the kelurahan, there was no response at all," said Steven.

The victim continued his report to Penjaringan District on August 9. Finally, the Pluit Village party responded to the victim's complaint but did not impose any sanctions on the Head of RW 06.

"After being reprimanded, the new sub-district head responded. But the response was not deactivated. The kelurahan asked for an RW deliberation and had to forum. There was a suspicion from us that there was a sub-district that deliberately tried to protect the head of this RW," he explained.

Based on the victim's confession, this case occurred in June 2022. Through a telephone call, the head of the RW initially discussed the issue of environmental improvement work to the victim.

The victim had responded to the conversation, but the RW chairman switched the chat that led to verbal abuse.

This harassment case was repeatedly carried out by the Head of RW. The victim who did not accept it was treated so as to record the discussion as evidence of a case of harassment that he reported to the police.

RI also reported ST to the North Jakarta Metro Police on November 30, 2022, with Article 5 of Law No. 12 of 2022 concerning the Crime of Sexual Violence. The report is registered with the number LP/B/1057/XI/2022/SPKT/POLRES METRO JAKUT/POLDA METRO JAYA.

Now, ST has been named a suspect by the North Jakarta Metro Police. However, he is still the head of RW 06 Pluit.