Again, an insensitive remark toward a rape victim comes from government officials, following ex Jakarta Governor’s footsteps last year, then the speaker of the House of Representatives last March. This time, the Minister of Education and Culture was much criticized for his comment related to the 14-year-old Depok girl who was raped by alleged human traffickers in Bogor, West Java whom she met via the social networking website Facebook. Several media outlets reported the Minister suspected that alleged rapes often were nothing but intentional sex by mutual consent. It was suspected that the girl might have consented to have sex and then claimed to have been raped. I was speechless. It was beyond my rational understanding. How could prominent officials in this country repeat the same mistake over and over again? Instead of offering consolation and sympathy, they keep on rubbing salt on the wounds of the rape victims and their families. It becomes commonplace for ministers, law makers or any other officials (which coincidently dominated by males) to blame the victims every time girls or women meet with sexual harassment or assault. By doing so, they reinforce the ‘conditioned belief ‘that the weight of the crime should be shared between the victim and the perpetrator or even worse that the weight of the crime rests mostly on the victim. The message is to be read “women who get raped hold accountability of what happen to them with every warning and damaging finger pointing of “What was she wearing?” or “how was she behaving?” or “Was she asking for it?” You get what you deserve! They are so busy prescribing every order to avoid “becoming a victim”. This attitude is sexist, dangerous and wrong. It’s like pointing a finger; internet is the source of evil because malicious and dangerous content is all over the Internet! The internet is not to blame for all the negative effects resulted from disabuse by its users. The offender is the criminal, thus the weight of the crime must not be shared. There is no excuse in rape whatsoever.
The assumption that women bear responsibility of the heinous crime for me personally seems out of place. Every statement and article focuses on appearance and behavior of the victim and fails to mention even a single fact about the accused. Just because a woman wears miniskirt, it doesn’t mean she invites rapists. The way she dresses does not justify the monstrous crime inflicted by the rapist. Sexual harassment and assault exist in conservative religious societies as it does in secular societies. No article of clothing is going to prevent it. How many domestic Indonesian workers working in conservative religious societies come home black and blue, raped and humiliated though they had worn the prescribed religious outfit in those countries??? If Indonesian lawmakers and government really want to stop rape and other sexual violence, they could start by providing adequate protection through laws against sexualized violence and enforcement of those laws. They should impose harsh and heavy sentence instead of just a few years of imprisonment. The rape victim suffers a lifetime of physical and emotional trauma. What the rapist took cannot be replaced or recreated. It was a heinous crime against humanity. It is not fair if the offender gets away with only light sentence which usually takes place in the courts. Thus, the lawmakers should not allow judges to exercise discretionary power to pass down lenient sentences to convicted statutory rapists. The laws should able to curb and reign in the sickness in the hearts of the rapists to fear and abide by the laws and its severe punishment! Heavy sentence is needed to ‘ensure deterrence.’
It is also important for the public officials to carefully choose wiser comments and eradicate prejudices against women. Public officials should be able to feel empathy for those who suffer misfortune. Think before you speak. It’s not the victims they should blame for what happen to them. They already go through ordeals, guilt, and shame. They have it enough. It should be the heinous crime of the rapists or sex offenders they scrutinize. Don’t tell the victims how to dress to avoid such misery. This time tell the people “DON’T RAPE”, instead of “don’t get raped.” This time tell the people, if you ever commit a crime of sexual harassment or assault, we will MAKE SURE that you will get the maximum harsh sentence
The assumption that women bear responsibility of the heinous crime for me personally seems out of place. Every statement and article focuses on appearance and behavior of the victim and fails to mention even a single fact about the accused. Just because a woman wears miniskirt, it doesn’t mean she invites rapists. The way she dresses does not justify the monstrous crime inflicted by the rapist. Sexual harassment and assault exist in conservative religious societies as it does in secular societies. No article of clothing is going to prevent it. How many domestic Indonesian workers working in conservative religious societies come home black and blue, raped and humiliated though they had worn the prescribed religious outfit in those countries??? If Indonesian lawmakers and government really want to stop rape and other sexual violence, they could start by providing adequate protection through laws against sexualized violence and enforcement of those laws. They should impose harsh and heavy sentence instead of just a few years of imprisonment. The rape victim suffers a lifetime of physical and emotional trauma. What the rapist took cannot be replaced or recreated. It was a heinous crime against humanity. It is not fair if the offender gets away with only light sentence which usually takes place in the courts. Thus, the lawmakers should not allow judges to exercise discretionary power to pass down lenient sentences to convicted statutory rapists. The laws should able to curb and reign in the sickness in the hearts of the rapists to fear and abide by the laws and its severe punishment! Heavy sentence is needed to ‘ensure deterrence.’
It is also important for the public officials to carefully choose wiser comments and eradicate prejudices against women. Public officials should be able to feel empathy for those who suffer misfortune. Think before you speak. It’s not the victims they should blame for what happen to them. They already go through ordeals, guilt, and shame. They have it enough. It should be the heinous crime of the rapists or sex offenders they scrutinize. Don’t tell the victims how to dress to avoid such misery. This time tell the people “DON’T RAPE”, instead of “don’t get raped.” This time tell the people, if you ever commit a crime of sexual harassment or assault, we will MAKE SURE that you will get the maximum harsh sentence
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