Separation Of Male And Female Seats In Public Transportation, Observer: Facilitating Same-sex Partner Sexual Violence

Illustration of a sexual harassment case in an angkot/screenshot of a viral social media video

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta Transportation Agency (Dishub) will make seating arrangements between female and male passengers. Later, the seats in public transportation (angkot) for female and male passengers will be separated so that incidents of sexual harassment in angkot do not happen again.

This policy is the aftermath of the viral sexual harassment that has occurred again in public transportation, namely on the M-44 angkot route Tebet - Kuningan. The victim is an employee. However, the policy on the seating arrangement pattern that will be carried out by the DKI Jakarta Transportation Agency has been criticized by Transportation Policy Analyst, Azas Tigor Nainggolan.

According to Azas Tigor, such a policy will actually create a new problem of sexual harassment.

"Policies like this actually facilitate sexual violence or similar sexual harassment. It's dangerous," he said when confirmed by VOI, Monday, July 11.

Azas Tigor explained that the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government should encourage policies for public transportation services that are friendly and safe for children and adults who are vulnerable to sexual acts and sexual harassment.

"The DKI Provincial Government must encourage public transportation service business actors to make and facilitate these policies in their services," he said.

According to Amnesty International, he continued, sexual violence, especially rape, is a serious human rights violation.

So acts of sexual violence, said Azas, including sexual harassment, must be handled in a systematic and organized manner in order to break the chain and further prevent the reoccurrence of sexual violence crimes. The community's obligation to report perpetrators of sexual harassment is regulated by law.

The government related to the protection of victims of sexual violence on public transportation will immediately issue a protection regulation.

In fact, said Azas Tigor, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of PPPA, the Ministry of BUMN, the Police, the Community or Experts and the Association of Public Transportation Entrepreneurs and other stakeholders to develop concrete steps to build public transportation services that are safe and comfortable for users so that they do not experience acts of sexual violence as well as harassment. sexual.

"Through this regulation, supervision of public transportation services is carried out to ensure that users are safe and comfortable, there are no acts of sexual violence and sexual harassment on public transportation," he said.