"How Come You Don't Want To!": Questioning Apathy's Shouts In Alleged Sexual Harassment Of Gofar Hilman

Gofar Hilman (Source: Instagram/gofar)

JAKARTA - The case of sexual harassment in a public space allegedly carried out by a radio announcer, Gofar Hilman, has become a topic of discussion. The problem was expressed by the owner of the Twitter account @quweenjojo. In his thread, he tells about something that is no less heartbreaking: many people legitimize sexual harassment. Why do many people who seem to ignore acts of sexual harassment and even tend to legitimize it?

It all started when @quweenjojo shared a traumatic experience that happened last August 2018. He said that when he came to an event in Malang. One of the guest stars is Gogar Hilman.

Then at the end of the event, the woman came to the front of the event to create an Instagram story. His prejudices were still good when Gofar pulled and embraced him. "Okay I think he's humble," he wrote.

Her perception started to change when Gofar suddenly hugged her tightly from behind. His actions were even more surprising when Gofar's hands roamed the woman's body.

"There Gofar's hands started to 'ruffle up' sensitive parts of my body. I asked not to be heard and the condition in front of me was very busy," he said.

Some people ask, really? Yes, right. In August 2018 I came to an event where one of the guest stars was Gofar Hilman in Malang. At the end of the event I came forward with the intention of for Instastory purposes. my mistake. Then Gofar pulled and hugged me, ok I thought he was humble.

— Nyelaras (@quweenjojo) June 8, 2021

Legitimized by many people

The sad story does not stop there. According to @quweenjojo, many people who were present at the event also made sense of this depraved act.

There are even people who support while cheering the woman "how come you don't want to be helped?" he said. "I immediately felt really low." Luckily there was still one man who helped him escape from Gofar and the crowd. "I tried to stay cool at that time but my brain was actually blank."

According to him, Gofar's treatment was disgusting. However, the attitude of many people who actually shouted "how come you don't want it" while laughing was far more contemptible.

"So I was traumatized by crowds for some time."

Gofar Hilman's party has responded to the allegations. Through his Twitter account, Gofar explained that during the event there were indeed many men and women who asked for Instagram Stories. He also apologized to all those who were uncomfortable when he hugged. "It was my fault that I didn't ask for the approval of the ranking."

However, for allegations of harassment, Gofar denied it. "In terms of allegations of harassment, here I am sure I did not do that. There were two people who accompanied me at that time, a girl on the committee and a guy who was my assistant. They took care of me until I got in the car at the end of the event."

My response to a very busy incident on Twitter involving my name

— Gofar Hilman (@gofar) June 8, 2021

Cases of sexual harassment or violence are not uncommon events. According to Komnas Perempuan's 2020 Annual Record, the number of cases of violence against women in the public sphere is one of the most prominent. There were 1,731 cases of violence against women in the public or community domain that year.

The number of cases is divided into several types of violence. The most prominent are cases of sexual violence which amounted to 962 cases. Then there were 371 cases of sexual violence (or not specifically stated), followed by rape in 229 cases, sexual harassment in 166 cases, sexual harassment in 181 cases, sexual intercourse in 5 cases, and the rest were attempted rape in 10 cases.

Many people ignore

Photo illustration (Mika Baumeister/Unsplash)

But unfortunately many people tend to ignore sexual harassment, even in the public sphere. According to a collaborative survey between Hollaback! Jakarta, women, Lentera Sintas Indonesia, Perkumpulan Lintas Feminist Jakarta (JFDG), and Change.org Indonesia, to 62,000 Indonesians nationally in 2018, it was revealed that 40 percent of victims admitted that many witnesses ignored when the harassment occurred.

Meanwhile, only 22 percent of victims claimed to be defended by witnesses and 15 percent tried to calm the victim after the incident. In fact, as explained by the survey, 92 percent of victims said they felt helped after being defended.

In line with the Komnas Perempuan survey last year, the research from the NGO coalition also revealed that public spaces are listed as the places where sexual harassment occurs the most.

"Sexual harassment is said to often occur on public roads (33 percent), public transportation including bus stops (19 percent), and schools and colleges (15 percent). Sexual harassment is said to often occur on public roads (33 percent), public transportation including bus stops ( 19 per cent), and schools and colleges (15 per cent)," the survey said.

From these facts, we can see that there are still many people who ignore cases of sexual harassment even though it happens in public spaces. So why can this happen?

Root of the problem

To answer that, we interviewed a sociologist from the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN), Tantan Hermansyah. At first, he commented on the mob shouting at people who were allegedly sexually harassed by Gofar Hilman.

Tantan said, why do people seem to legitimize the alleged harassment because they are in a public space where the level of action that leads to sexual harassment is very likely to occur. "Therefore, a public space whose identity is very different from that of a place of worship, or a school," said Tantan to VOI.

However, Tantan said, it does not mean that those who behave like that have the same tendencies as people who are suspected of having sexually harassed. Cases like this, he said, should go to court.

"Essentially, this must go into the realm of law. That's where statements, statements, and witnesses from both sides must be pitted against, looking for the true truth," said Tantan.

Meanwhile, from a broader perspective related to the survey which states that many people ignore cases of sexual harassment, Tantan sees that it is more due to technical problems with legal assistance. According to Tantan, people are more reluctant to deal with legal technicalities that tend to be complicated.

"Summoned, told to wait, the main thing is complicated. Whereas on the one hand they are people from the ordinary class, if they leave their job for one day it will have an impact on their income, their income," said Tantan.

Even though the community does not want to help victims of sexual harassment. "So if it is certain that this aspect does not interfere, then the public will also want to. In relatively developed countries, right, if you are a witness to a legal case, your privacy, family, income will be protected. Maybe that's the biggest factor," he concluded.

*Read other information about SEXUAL HARASSMENT or read other interesting articles from Ramdan Febrian.

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