Woman accuses public order officers of sexual harassment

I Wayan Juniartha The Jakarta Post Denpasar

The Denpasar Police have vowed to thoroughly investigate a formal complaint filed by a 24-year-old woman who claims that she and five other women were sexually harassed by the chief of the city's Public Order Office (Tramtib) and two of his men when the women were detained at the office.

"The fact that the case involves a high-ranking government official will not, in any way, hamper our investigation. We are committed to seriously and thoroughly examining this case," Denpasar Police chief of detectives Comr. Budi Wasono said on Friday.

Budi said he had signed the summons for Public Order Office chief Anak Agung Ngurah Gede Astawa and his subordinate Gede Eka Sucita to appear at the city police headquarters next Monday for questioning.

The formal complaint was filed by Elly Pujiati who stated that on Tuesday afternoon several officers from the Public Order Office conducted an ID check at a rented house on Jl. Pulau Indah, where Elly and her friends live. Elly, a native of Bandung, West Java, and five others did not have Denpasar IDs, so the officers rounded them up and sent them to the Public Order Office on Jl. Cempaka.

Elly reported that the sexual harassment took place at the office at about 11 p.m. On the pretext of verifying that the women did not have tattoos or illegal drugs in their possession, Astawa, Eka Sucita and an as yet unidentified officer ordered the women to enter a closed room one by one.

"In the room they told me to take off my outer garments, and after I did they told me to take off my bra and panties, which I vehemently refused to do. They then asked me to stretch and flip my bra, and later my panties so they would be able to see if I had hidden anything inside, or so they claimed," Elly said to the police.

Angered by the treatment, Elly, who was released that night, filed a complaint on Wednesday morning. By Friday afternoon, the police had finished questioning four other women: Lilis Fatimah, Ida Dawiyah, Sri Indahyani and Yulia Berliani, whose statements all supported Elly's complaint. Another woman, Sandra Desiana, had not yet been questioned at the time.

Separately, the Forum Perempuan Mitra Kasih Bali, a female activists group, issued a statement on Friday condemning the behavior of the public order officers and demanded that legal action be taken against them.

Meanwhile, the Public Order Office chief, in an apparent attempt to save face, stated that he and his men only wanted to make sure the women were not in possession of any illegal substances, and that the women voluntarily took off their clothes.

In the same defensive tone, Astawa's boss, Denpasar Mayor A.A. Puspayoga, said the women's complaint was a hazardous part of the job that his men had to face.

"They were only doing their job to uphold the local law on ID cards. On the sexual harassment issue, I leave it completely in the hands of the police," he said.