The Raids On CSWs Deemed To Violate The Authority Of Members Of Parliament

JAKARTA - The name of the legislator from West Sumatra (West Sumatra) Andre Rosiade suddenly became a byword on social media. Not without reason, Andre, who at that time participated in the online prostitution raids, was considered to be trapping commercial sex workers (PSK) with the origin of NN.

Instead of exposing the online prostitution network, this member of the House of Representatives Commission VI is considered to have violated his authority as a member of the council. Because, as a board member, Andre only has a supervisory function.

Researcher of the Forum for Community Care for the Parliament (Formappi) Lucius Karus said, in Article 194 of the DPR Standing Orders which regulate the question of members' supervisory rights only mentions the mechanism, specific visits and unannounced inspections are carried out if there are urgent problems and / or extraordinary events in the constituency and / or the province of origin of the Member concerned.

Lucius explained that in Article 194 of the DPR Standing Orders, the word 'gerebek' is not found. Referring to this article, DPR members certainly do not have the authority to act like law enforcers to eradicate immorality, for example.

However, Lucius continued, DPR members can always fight for the eradication of immorality by encouraging law enforcers to consistently do so.

"Yes, it should go beyond its authority. Because the DPR only has the function of supervising it, not the function of taking action. Raiding is already included in prosecution, right?" he said, when contacted by VOI, in Jakarta, Wednesday, February 5.

Raids are the authority of law enforcement. Lucius said that DPR members who might find a problem in their constituency can coordinate with any party to fight for something related to the interests of the people. Not just designing it.

"So I think it becomes a problem when DPR members even devise a strategy to raid someone who is suspected of being a prostitute, because that should be the work of law enforcement," he said.

According to Lucius, it is worth asking what was the motive for the raid on prostitutes in Padang by this member of the DPR. Is it due to the demands of duty as DPR members who have the right to supervise government policies and the implementation of laws in their electoral districts or are there other matters of a personal nature so that women who are caught during the raids seem to be special targets.

"Because it is impossible by only raiding one woman, the matter of immorality that is said to have mushroomed can be overcome," he explained.

Raids Are Not In Accordance With The Rules

RI Ombudsman member, Ninik Rahayu, asked the authorities to pay attention to the victim in the issue of prostitution engineering in Padang, West Sumatra. He urged the police to restore NN's position as a victim of online prostitution.

Ninik is of the opinion that the NN case is classified as human trafficking. This is based on media information and the results of coordination between Ninik and the Ombudsman Representative of West Sumatra.

He encouraged the authorities to eradicate human trafficking, but still have to pay attention to the position of the victim.

According to Ninik, trafficking in persons is a crime against humanity in the category of extra ordinary crime as regulated in Law No. 21 of 2007. Referring to Article 289 of the Criminal Code concerning prostitution, the authorities should detain pimps, not victims of sex workers.

Ninik said, all parties appreciate the efforts to eradicate trafficking, including in the form of prostitution. So all parties should remain in the corridor of their main duties and authorities and there should be no arbitrariness because of their positions.

"The trapping case is the authority of the law enforcer, because it is already in the domain of execution," he said, in a written statement.

According to Ninik, the National Police needs to uncover the method of disclosing cases of prostitution online through disguise, because there are indications that it does not comply with legal provisions.

"Polda needs to immediately reveal the procedure for prosecuting this case that is not in accordance with the law. Moreover, there are allegations of dragging the big names of legislative members," he explained.

Criminalization of Women

Komnas Perempuan Commissioner Mariana Amiruddin assessed that NN was used as a sexual object to show one's morality. In this case, Andre acts as a moral policeman for the sake of political imagery.

The arrest of NN with the aim of providing political evidence for the sake of image, said Mariana, was an act of violence.

"Trapping sex workers is a way that criminalizes women and is a trend used to show someone's 'masculinity' by sexually objectifying women," said Marina.

The actions carried out by Andre, said Mariana, show a patriarchal culture that does not understand the portrait of sex workers who in a general phenomenon are part of the practice of trafficking in persons for sexual purposes.

"This trap represents the moral standard of men (patriarchy) at the expense of women, and not seeing them as humans," he said.

Mariana takes an example of a case that is exactly like the one experienced by NN. In 2019, the country was shocked by the raids on an artist with the initials VA. Just like NN, VA was framed and found guilty.

"Pimps and customers are not seen as perpetrators, and moral matters are simply sacrificed to sex workers who are mostly women," he said.