Spiritual Authority and Sexual Crimes
This series of events can no longer be viewed as sporadic incidents or mere individual deviations. There is a pattern that keeps repeating: the perpetrators are figures with high spiritual and social authority, while the victims are in vulnerable positions and fully dependent on the perpetrators. In the context of pesantren, the relationship becomes even more complex because students live in a closed environment with very strong internal oversight.
Komnas Perempuan has long warned that sexual violence in religious-based educational institutions is one of the recurring clusters. The modus operandi is almost similar: manipulation of faith, abuse of power relations, and the use of religious pretexts to silence victims. Sexual crimes do not always appear in the form of physical violence alone, but also through psychological intimidation, moral threats, and spiritual exploitation.
What is more concerning is that most cases are suspected to never truly come to light. Many victims choose to remain silent out of fear, shame, or concern about tarnishing the reputation of religious institutions. Not a few families end up tightly covering up cases to preserve the reputation of pesantren or figures respected by the community.
This culture of silence is what makes sexual predators feel safe. When perpetrators are positioned as sacred figures who cannot be criticised, social control gradually disappears. Figures such as kiai, ustaz, priests, pastors, monks, or other religious leaders are seemingly placed in a realm immune from questions and oversight. Yet, the higher someone’s moral authority, the greater the accountability they must bear.
Therefore, it is important to emphasise that sexual violence in religious environments is not the monopoly of any single religion. In the Catholic Church, for example, the world was once shaken by systemic sexual abuse scandals involving clergy in the United States, Ireland, France, Australia, and Germany. Independent investigations found thousands of victims with the same pattern: abuse of power, a culture of silence, and institutional protection of perpetrators.
In Indonesia itself, allegations of sexual violence have also surfaced in the Catholic Church environment in Nusa Tenggara Timur and Java. Several reports and public discussions have revealed allegations of abuse involving clergy, seminarians, or religious-based educators.
Similar cases have also emerged in Protestant church environments in various countries, including South Korea and the United States, when several pastors were accused of exploiting spiritual relationships to perpetrate abuse against female congregants. Even in Buddhist communities in Thailand and Japan, some monks have been implicated in sexual exploitation cases that have sparked harsh criticism of the weak internal oversight in religious institutions.
All of this shows one thing: when spiritual power meets closed structures and minimal oversight, the potential for abuse will always exist.
Therefore, a defensive response to media reporting is simply inappropriate. A high-ranking official, for instance, once regretted that sexual violence cases in pesantren were exaggerated by the media. Statements like this deserve criticism because they risk shifting the focus from victim protection to protecting the image of institutions.
In fact, media reporting is not automatically intended to corner pesantren or Islam. The media performs a social control function to ensure cases are not covered up and victims obtain justice. Moreover, facts show that sexual crimes also occur in various other religious environments. Therefore, the issue is not the religious identity, but the abused power relations and weak oversight mechanisms.
An attitude that is too concerned with institutional image can actually strengthen the culture of silence that has long been one of the root problems. In many cases in various countries, sexual violence scandals escalate not only because of the perpetrators’ actions, but also because institutions are busier protecting reputations than protecting victims.
Unfortunately, the state’s response is often still reactive. Law enforcement authorities appear overly cautious when dealing with religious figures, making case handling sluggish. Meanwhile, the government often stops at statements of condemnation without firm structural steps.
Yet the state has a great responsibility to ensure that religious educational institutions become safe spaces for children and adolescents.
The government needs to build an integrated oversight system for pesantren and dormitory-based educational institutions, not only in terms of curriculum and administration, but also child protection and prevention of sexual violence. Regular audits must be conducted independently, involving credible external parties, including child protection agencies and civil society organisations.