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The Grim Realities of Sexual Assault on College Campuses in Indonesia

Watch our new documentary on what is, and isn't, done by universities to protect victims of sexual assault.

When last November a student press at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), one of the most prestigious universities in Indonesia, published an allegation that the school tried to cover up a sexual assault case involving two students, it caught national attention.

The report details how Agni, as the anonymous woman is known, was sexually assaulted by a classmate during an UGM-sponsored community service assignment trip in 2017. When she reported this to university officials, they attempted to sweep the matter under the rug, as the student journalists at Balairung Press discovered. The report put UGM in hot water and sparked a massive national conversation on what's long been an open secret: Indonesian universities has a serious sexual assault problem.

Another case in a small private university in Bali is another example of this epidemic. In this documentary, VICE meets a survivor, Meliana, who reported her lecturer for sexual assault. Like Agni's experience, university officials tried to convince Meliana to handle the case in a "peaceful" manner, that is, by not speaking up any further. VICE also sits down with one of Indonesia's top higher education officials to learn what is, and isn't, being done about the UGM case and other cases across the country.

VICE respects Meliana's decision to show her face and use her real name in this documentary in order to encourage other victims of sexual assault to speak up and seek justice.

This video is a part of "Nama Baik Kampus," a collaboration between Tirto, the Jakarta Post, and VICE on sexual assault in Indonesian universities.