FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Elections 2019

Lawmakers Just Banned Pedophiles From Elections, But Rapists are Still Welcome

While many are celebrating a new rule that will filter Indonesia's elections from corrupt politicians, drug lords and pedophiles, a recent case shows that committing sexual assault won't stop someone from holding a public office.

What does the word “progressive” mean when you live in a highly religious and conservative country like Indonesia? Sometimes, it’s not really what you expect it to be. But progress is relative, so any step forward no matter how small, must be celebrated. 2018 is a political year for Indonesia, with the presidential and legislative elections just around the corner. In light of this happenings, the Elections Commissions (KPU) applied a new rule that’s been celebrated as a progressive one: people with records of corruptions, drug connections, and pedophilia are forbidden to run for legislative positions.

Advertisement

Ask anybody on the street what the biggest problem is with the Indonesian government, and their answer is most likely going to be corruption. And that’s pretty much spot on. So when KPU activated this new rule, most of the attention was centered on the candidates with corruption records, and not so much on the other two crimes. So how does KPU really deal with them?

As the current administration continues its war on drugs, it's less likely that anyone with drug-related charges would have the nerve to apply for a government position like Pablo Escobar did in the 1980s. The other part of the rule, the one on pedophilia, is where things get more complicated. This new “progressive” rule, after all, is anything but.


Watch: Exiled Chinese Billionaire Uses YouTube To Wage A War On Corruption


Heri Kadja is a legislative hopeful from the Democratic Party, who's currently the party’s branch leader in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. Upon his application to be part of the Regional House of Representatives (DPRD), his criminal past resurfaced. Heri, 46, was previously found guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl.

“We are firm with our stances,” Wahyu Setiawan, a Kupang KPU commissioner told local media. “If we can prove that he raped a 15-year-old, then according to KPU’s standard, it’s a form of sexual violence against a minor. His application would be deemed invalid.”

Sounds straightforward enough, right? Well, not really. Heri defended himself by saying that he girl he assaulted wasn't 15 years old, but 18. So he’s not technically a pedophile, he’s "just" a rapist. Surely, the ever-so-progressive KPU won't let him and his flawed argument run for a public office, right? Don't be so hopeful.

Advertisement

KPU said it will investigate the matter further. If Heri's victim was indeed 18 when the rape took place, then he will qualify to run in the legislative race just fine. You may ask, when a country is socially aware enough to consider pedophilia a big no-no, how could it treat rape so casually? Child Protection Commission secretary, Rita Pranawi, once explained to Detik why the crime of pedophilia is considered as serious as drug smuggling and corruption.

“Sexual violence for minors is an extraordinary crime,” she told Detik. “Children who are victims of sexual assaults have high tendencies to commit other crimes in the future. Like pornography and drug abuse. Children makes up a third of the country’s population, so they must be protected.”

Her statement is true. But the point here is that violence against children and violence against anyone above the age of consent should be seen as just as bad, and the government obviously doesn't think so. So this leaves us with one question: how progressive can our progressive laws ever be? As long as they're vague as this one, then probably not so much, according to Erasmus Napitupulu, the program director at the Institute of Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR).

“The term used was 'sexual violence against under-aged children,'" Erasmus told VICE. "That’s really ambiguous, because our laws can’t even define what sexual violence is. And the fact that cases like this is being handled by a commission and not a judicial body is odd. Everything becomes very administrative, each candidate is not being judged case-by-case."

Advertisement

The effect to this is not only cases like Heri's, but also others.

"Even the rule on drug connections isn't clear," Erasmus said. "Drug addicts are incriminated as dealers all the time because they sometimes help actual dealers courier packages. The rule is not even made by KPU. They copy-pasted the whole thing from the constitution without altering it to fit their context."

So far, there isn't an official list of the crimes considered serious enough to stop someone from trying to be an elected official. But from the way this case is being handled, it's clear that rape isn't one of them.

“ICJR obviously disagrees with this. Rape is one of the most evil of crimes you could ever commit to somebody else,” Erasmus said firmly. “But legally speaking, there is no clear clause against it for political candidates. It’s not that easy, because some might argue that discriminating [against rapists] is a violation of someone's political rights."

The double standard here is enraging as it is unsurprising. In Indonesia, sexism is clear as day. From the way women are represented in the media to their limited rights to health care, Indonesians have a long way to go before women can be truly equal to men. And the country has definitely a lot to work on when it comes to sexual violence against women and how it treats victims. In 2016, there were nearly 260,000 rape cases, nearly 90 percent of which are not reported to authorities. Heri's case is just another proof that we're fooling no one but ourselves when we say we're progressive.

Political parties in Indonesia have a reputation of nominating problematic candidates. Even after signing an integrity pact to not nominate ex-corruptors to run in an election, almost every political parties broke the pact this year. It’s a complicated political landscape equipped with flawed laws, and Erasmus said unfortunately, Heri won't be the last rapist sitting in office.

“It’s understandable that political parties can’t ever find the perfect candidate,” he told me. "But, then again, if you someone you know in your party is a rapist, why would you still nominate them?"