Child Rapists Suspect Inaugurated As DPRD Member, House Of Representatives Commission III: Legal Process And Strict Action!

Illustration of sexual violence in children (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Commission III of the DPR RI highlighted the question of a suspected child rapist with the initials HA being inaugurated as a member of the Singkawang DPRD, West Kalimantan.

The commission in charge of law enforcement affairs hopes that the police will immediately accelerate the process of investigating the HA immoral case and the state can take firm action against the suspect, who is now a member of the DPRD.

"This is a concern of how an immoral suspect was inaugurated as a member of the council. And we strongly condemn the alleged rape of this suspect's child," said Deputy Chairman of Commission III of the DPR, Prince Khairul Saleh, Thursday, September 19.

As is known, HA was seen attending the inauguration of the elected DPRD member of Singkawang City on September 17 in the Balairung Office of the Mayor of Singkawang.

The video of HA's inauguration is in the public spotlight considering that he is a suspect in raping a 13-year-old girl. Moreover, it is known that HA has been absent from the police summons.

The HA immoral case itself has been running since 2023 but he has never come for an examination at the Singkawang Police, aka absent on the grounds of heart disease. For this reason, Pangeran questioned HA's legal process.

"The question is how the police allow this. Why is there no further action considering the case has been one year, and can be seen in the video circulating that the suspect is in good health," he said.

Regarding HA, who is still appointed as a member of the Singkawang DPRD, even though he was caught in a sexual violence case against minors, Bawaslu stated that he could not interfere. This is because immorality is not a criminal act of election so that his status as a member of the DPRD can only be disallowed or replaced if the court's decision has been inkrah and declares HA guilty.

"Apart from these rules, the fact that the immoral suspect was appointed as a member of the DPRD has injured public justice while the state is aggressively tackling violence against women and children. How can representatives of the people have moral and ethical sins. This must be a note," said the Prince.

The legislator for the South Kalimantan electoral district also questioned the reason the police have not detained the suspect considering the threat to perpetrators of sexual violence over 5 years.

"And we must also ask the reason why law enforcers have not made arrests? We ask the National Police Chief to make this a concern so that this case is immediately resolved for legal certainty as fairly as possible," said Pangeran.

In this case, HA is subject to Article 81 in conjunction with Article 82 of Law (UU) Number 35 of 2014 concerning Child Protection with a minimum penalty of 5 years and a maximum of 15 years, plus one-third of the year because of community leaders. H was also charged with Law No. 12/2022 on the Crime of Sexual Violence (TPKS).

"We hope for the firmness of law enforcement. Because the name of the Polri institution is at stake here. Don't let the legal assumption be sharp downwards but blunt upwards and again: no viral no justice," said Pangeran.

According to Prince, the statement by the Head of Criminal Investigation Unit of the Singkawang Police, Iptu Deddi Sitepu, who said that HA had not been detained because he was still conducting further investigations and waiting for his case to go to the prosecutor's office, was very groundless.

"It's just that the chicken thief became a suspect and was immediately detained by the police. This is a suspect of sexual violence against children, you know. It's ironic," he said.

The PAN police reminded that strict action by the police is important to show legal integrity in Indonesia. He hopes that the investigation process in the HA case can be processed quickly so that it no longer raises public questions.

Commission III of the DPR also encourages the suspension of HA's position as a member of the DPRD until the legal process is completed for the sake of integrity of holding the election.