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Police urged to take perspective of rape victims

Jakarta Post - February 10, 2014

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Jakarta – Almost all rape cases could be brought to justice if the government revised the Criminal Code and changed its perspective to match that of victims, and if the police improved their professionalism when carrying out field and forensic investigations with forensic experts, two criminal law experts say.

Yesmil Anwar of Padjadjaran University in Bandung and Iva Kasuma of the University of Indonesia's School of Law share the opinion that visum et repertum and expert witnesses – instead of five pieces of evidence, as required by the Criminal Code – are enough to bring alleged rapists to justice.

The three other pieces of evidence are eyewitness testimonies, field investigation results and suspect admissions.

"If the two pieces of evidences were strong enough, then there would be no reason for the police to delay processing the rape cases that are piling up," Yesmil told The Jakarta Post by phone on Saturday.

He added many reports of rape or other violence against women and children were not processed as victims usually could not present a witness to give testimony.

Many alleged rapists have hidden behind the required presence of witnesses and the police have done the same because they are not as qualified as police in the United States, he said.

The bill on the revision of the Criminal Code was submitted by the government to the House of Representatives last year but there has been no political signal that it would be deliberated in the immediate future because there are too many crucial issues requiring review.

Iva said the government and the police should try to understand the perspective of victims of violence by giving special treatment to them in handling their cases.

Iva Kasuma, who also took part in the rally to demand that police carry out thorough investigations into rape cases, said the police should improve their professionalism in investigating cases and should give special treatment to victims, because they have been trained on an annual basis to handle violence against women and children.

According to Iva, the presence of eyewitnesses is less relevant in processing rape cases when the police and forensic experts were adequately qualified to conduct forensic examinations.

On Saturday morning, 30 members of the Jakarta Volunteers against Sexual Violence group staged a demonstration in front of the National Police Headquarters, demanding that police carry out thorough investigations into rape cases, including the recent case involving Sitok Srengenge, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia.

The protesters, mostly women, shouted statements that the police and other stakeholders should change the Criminal Code and change their mind-set when handling the increasing number of rape cases in the country.

According to them, almost 35 rape cases occur across Indonesia every day, but most cases cannot be processed – mostly because of the absence of eyewitnesses.

Meanwhile, Metro Kebayoran Baru police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Anom Setyadji said that the police responded to the protest quickly and would channel the protesters' messages to the relevant division.

Anom added that, as the father of a daughter, he personally agreed with the demonstrators and their demands. "A tragedy like [rape] could happen to anyone, including me. As investigators, we have an obligation [to resolve the cases]," he said. (ask)