Central Jakarta Police arrested three suspects at an imported clothing retail company Friday for alleged involvement in the abuse of 25 female employees.
The three suspects, Ricky Ahluwalia, the owner of the PT Ahluwalia Group, the corporate manager Suhari and another staff member Kadut, were reported to police by former employees for committing offensive acts.
The victims claim the suspects, who posed as their bosses, had accused them of stealing and punished them by forcing them to perform humiliating acts, such as mimicking animals, licking their boss's spittle and slippers, and drinking water from the toilet bowl.
"We rounded up Ricky and Kadut at around 2:30 p.m. yesterday *Thursday* at their office on Jl. Pintu Air V in Pasar Baru," Central Jakarta chief of detectives Comr. Suwondo Nainggolan told The Jakarta Post Friday, adding that neither had resisted arrest. At 7 p.m., Suhari came to police headquarters to turn himself in.
"We cannot reveal the results of our questioning *of the sus-pects*. For now, we are sticking to the presumption of innocence principle," Suwondo said, declining to give details of the suspects' roles in the case. "First, we need all the information."
Some employees will undergo further questioning as witnesses in the case. Two of the victims, Penny Purwaningsih and Anita, said they were violently abused by Ricky on Saturday, after they tried to report a staff member suspected of embezzling company money, their efforts backfiring as Ricky accused them of being the thieves.
The next day, around 25 other employees were allegedly abused when they were summoned to attend a company "meeting" in the main office.
Nurhayati, who used to work at one of the company's stores in Prapanca, South Jakarta, said she was slapped five times and told to sign a document saying she had stolen money from the company. Soviyanti, a former company supervisor, said the documents included salary cuts.
"The document stated employees' salaries for the next three months would be slashed by 25 to 30 percent, and anyone who tried to run away would be forced to pay the company money, upward of Rp 5 million *around US$ 530* ..." she said.
Hendrik Sirait from the Indonesian Human Rights and Legal Aid Association (PBHI) said Neneng, a victim, had been hospitalized since Thursday, after being violently abused Tuesday.
"She is traumatized and, as she was suffering from tuberculosis symptoms when she was abused, the stress has made it worse," Hendrik said. (dis)
