Do Not Want The Novi Widyasari Case To Repeat Itself, The PKB Faction Promises To Fight For The Ratification Of The TPKS Bill

Illustration-(Photo: DOK ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The PKB faction in the DPR said it would focus on fighting for the ratification of the Draft Law on the Crime of Sexual Violence (TPKS) as a priority target in the 2022 Priority National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).

The chairman of the PKB faction in the DPR, Cucun Ahmad Syamsurijal, said that the bill became the most important of the 40 bills in the Priority Prolegnas because it saw the dynamics that were currently happening.

"We think that the TPKS Bill deserves to be enacted immediately because there is currently an emergency on sexual violence," said Cucun in Jakarta, Wednesday, December 8.

Cucun continued, the TPKS Bill became urgent to be ratified because the number of victims of sexual violence in Indonesia was increasing. Starting from minors, students, to housewives.

The latest case, said the member of Commission III of the DPR, is the viral suicide of Novi Widyasari in the cemetery area due to experiencing violence in dating.

According to Cucun, the case is a momentum to realize the importance of protecting victims of sexual violence in the country.

"This TPKS Bill not only ensures punishment for perpetrators, but also protects state organs for victims of sexual violence so they can speak up so they don't hurt themselves," he said.

The West Java legislator assesses sexual violence in Indonesia today as an iceberg phenomenon. Where, the cases that appear to the surface seem insignificant, even though there are very many cases in the field.

One of the triggers for this phenomenon, according to Cucun, is that victims of sexual violence do not dare to speak up. The victims, he said, felt ashamed or afraid of the stigma from society. So according to him, they prefer to suppress it so that they experience repeated violence that suppresses physically, mentally, and even spiritually.

"This situation must not be allowed to continue so that the TPKS Bill which is the legal umbrella to protect victims must be ratified immediately," said Cucun again.