West Java Governor Says Woman's Confinement Case Result of Neglectful Community Environment

Garut (ANTARA) - West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi stated that the case of confinement and abuse of a woman in a boarding house in Bandung Regency was a consequence of a neglectful community environment, which meant the problem was not detected early and only went viral on social media. “People only become sensitive when it goes viral, that reflects an environment that is neglectful of events,” the Governor said during a working visit to Garut Town Square on Wednesday. The Governor’s statement was in response to the heinous incident involving the suspected confinement and abuse by a man, Taufik Hidayat (30), against a woman with the initials YTR (29) in Bandung Regency, which left the victim in a distressing condition. He said the community must always be sensitive to conditions in their surroundings by asking for the identity of every new resident in the neighbourhood. The aim, he said, is to ascertain whether the new resident is a married couple or not, and not to allow any couple to stay in a boarding house without showing a marriage certificate. “So, do not let people reside in a place if they are not a married couple, how could that happen, and be allowed,” he said. He stated that a good neighbourhood system implements mandatory reporting within 1x24 hours, and the current case occurred because this was not carried out to inform the local RT/RW administrators. According to him, with current technological developments, it is quite easy to record identities and then report every new resident by simply photographing their face and entering it into the temporary resident database. “They (the perpetrator and victim) should have been recorded; those arriving should have their faces photographed, then entered into the temporary resident data,” he said. He also urged parents to be more active in supervising their children, especially daughters, to ascertain where they are going and with whom, so their whereabouts can be detected. “The parents too, their daughters, should not be let loose freely. If they go out of town, do not let months pass without knowing their whereabouts,” he said. The Governor also questioned the security and licensing system for boarding house businesses, as it is known that many are not registered with the local government, except for tax collection purposes. He stressed that all houses that are rented out or leased must be registered as business units, which can be done online.