Immoral Video Scandal In Gorontalo: Sexual Violence In The Education Unit Is An Iceberg Phenomenon

A number of students gave speeches against sexual harassment on campus. (ANTARA/Maulana Surya/rwa/aa)

JAKARTA The video scandal of teachers and students in Gorontalo is seven minutes viral throughout Indonesia. The alleged sexual violence case committed by unscrupulous teachers is an alarm for the world of Indonesian education.

In the past few days, the spread of immoral videos involving teachers and students who are still in grade 12 in Gorontalo Regency, Gorontalo Province, has become a public conversation. National Coordinator of the Education and Teacher Association (P2G) Satriwan Salim called this an emergency because acts of child sexual violence in educational units continued to repeat with increasing trends.

"This is an emergency. Anticipate prevention and handling must be extraordinary because this is an extraordinary crime for us," said Satriwan.

Meanwhile, female activists were furious with a number of reports that the case of teachers and students occurred because they were consensual. In fact, sexual violence almost certainly occurs because of the inequality in power relations between the perpetrator and the victim, such as teachers who have more power than students.

Shortly after the video went viral, the police immediately conducted an investigation. It didn't take long for the Gorontalo Resort Police to then determine the teacher in the video, DH (57), as a suspect. DH was charged with Law Number 17 of 2016 concerning Child Protection.

From the results of the investigation, the Head of Gorontalo Police, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Deddy Herman, said that DH had approached the victim who was still a minor since 2022. The suspect approached the victim, among others, by helping him do his job. They are also in a relationship.

"The mode that occurred was indeed a romantic relationship because the person concerned felt that the suspect was nurturing, helping with tasks, paying more attention. Finally, the victim felt comfortable until it happened like that," said Deddy as quoted by Kompas.

Not only on social media, a number of reports in national media mention the case of teachers and students because they like each other. Even among the reports, there were also those who wrote down the identity of the victim, such as the origin of the school and its organization.

Information about likes to like' apparently angered Novi Rusnarty Usu, activist Salam Puan, a non-profit organization that focuses on protecting women in Gorontalo.

"This is not because they like each other, but there is a unequal power relationship between teachers and students," said Novi.

He said that so far teachers have been considered superior, feared, and even judged as second parents for students. In the case in Gorontalo, the victim feels that the suspect is paying attention, especially since he is an orphan. This situation was used by the person concerned to empower the victim.

Supposedly, the suspect as a teacher is able to guide his students. Even if students have a tendency to be interested in the person concerned, teachers should direct students.

"Teachers must be a protector and take care of themselves. Don't make students feel the same way," said Novi.

This gender study student at the Gorontalo State University also regretted the spread of immoral videos on social media and the news that framed the incident because he was consensual. In fact, he emphasized that the case was sexual violence. He also asked the victim to get assistance, especially his education.

The Board of Experts of the Federation of Indonesian Teachers' Unions (FSGI) Retno Listyarti said cases of sexual violence in the world of education that were revealed to the public, such as in Gorontalo and other regions such as the iceberg phenomenon'. FSGI noted that at least 101 victims of sexual violence occurred in educational units from January to August 2024.

Previously, from January to May 2023, FSGI recorded 22 cases of sexual violence with the number of victims reaching 202 children in an educational environment, with the perpetrators, namely teachers, leaders of Islamic boarding schools, to teachers.

P2G National Coordinator Satriwan Salim said this case reflects that the world of education is in an emergency for sexual violence, because acts of sexual violence in educational units continue to repeat itself with increasing trends, plus low sanctions against perpetrators so as not to have a deterrent effect.

The government, according to Satriwan, must make a national action plan to prevent and deal with violence in educational units. The first thing that must be done is to give severe sanctions to the perpetrators.

According to Satriwan, the perpetrators in Gorontalo should be charged with multiple articles, ranging from the Criminal Code Law, the Law on the Crime of Sexual Violence, the Law on Child Protection, the ASN Law, to the Teacher Law and Lecturers.

"This should be a kind of alarm that acts of sexual violence against children, severe sanctions, for example whether castration or then imprisonment for life," he said angrily.

The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) said the high number of cases of sexual violence in the world of education was due to an unbalanced power relationship between teachers and students. Weak supervision exacerbated the situation.

"Faced with people who are respected, respected, feared, there is even any lure of showing the side of the child's vulnerability. This is what KPAI sees as its emergency side, namely that the power relationship positioning children is very vulnerable," said KPAI Chair Ai Maryati Solihah.

"It's very sad, it happens again and again in the scope of education which should be the second safe place to stay after home," he said.