The Motive Behind The Viral Story Of KPI Employees Who Were Harassed, The Choice Because The Report Was Rejected

Illustration: apa.org

JAKARTA - Different information emerged between the victims of sexual harassment with the initials MSA or MS and the police. According to the lawyer for the victim of sexual harassment, Mualimin Wadah, he made sure that his client had reported the incident to the Gambir Police.

Mualimin said that MS, who is an employee of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI), reported that he had been a victim of sexual harassment by his colleagues.

However, the report submitted by MS was not responded to because it was deemed not to have sufficient evidence.

"He was right (had made a report to the Gambir Sector Police). So he was asked (by the police), what was the evidence when they were harassed. As a victim, you don't have visual evidence. No photos or whatever," said Mualimin when contacted journalists, Thursday 2 August.

"It is precisely the victim who was photographed by the perpetrator and does not know where the photo is," continued Mualimin.

Because the police did not respond, MS finally decided to open the story of the sexual harassment and bullying he experienced to the public. Mualimin ensured that the article about the MS story which is now viral on social media is true.

The article was written by him as MS's legal adviser. However, this article was written based on a direct story from MS and with the approval of MS.

"So it was not MS who wrote it directly, but based on his information and approval," he said.

In the viral article, MS, who has worked as a contract employee at KPI since 2011, admitted that he often received acts of bullying, slavery and sexual harassment by his officemates.

"In 2015, they violently held my head, hands, feet, stripped me, pinned me, abused me by scribbling on my testicles using markers. This incident traumatized me and lost emotional stability," wrote MS.

MS said that he had twice tried to report to Gambir Police. However, twice, MS's complaint was never forwarded by the police.

MS first ventured to complain to the Gambir Police in 2019. But he was asked by officers to complain to his superiors first so that the problem was resolved internally.

"The officer even said, 'It's better to just complain to the boss first. Let the internal office handle it'," he said.

A year later, because the bullying continued, MS again tried to report to the Gambir Police, hoping that the report would be processed and the perpetrators called for questioning.

"But at the police station, the officers didn't take my story seriously and instead said, 'Look, sir, where is the number of the person who harassed you, let me call the person'," said MS.

However, MS's statement about reporting to the Gambir Police was denied by the Head of Public Relations of the Polda Metro Jaya, Kombes Pol Yusri Yunus.

Yusri confirmed that MS had never reported to Gambir Police for sexual harassment.

"Brother MS never made, or came to the Gambir Police, to make a police report. But there was an incident (sexual harassment) on October 22, 2015, at the Central KPI office on Jalan Gajah Mada," Yusri said in a statement to reporters, Thursday, August 2.

Yusri also said that MS had never written anything about the chronology of the abuse that was recently circulated.