Scant support for Surabaya mom who outed exam cheats

Support has been slow to emerge for the mother in Surabaya who had to flee East Java in the wake of violent threats after she blew the whistle on a cheating ring at her daughter’s school.

Sia, who was incorrectly identified as a man in this paper on Saturday, and her family have reportedly fled to Central Java in the wake of violent threats.

The family might draw solace from support expressed on Facebook by education observers, academics and journalists and by statements made by the Indonesian Teachers Association (IGI) and the Children Protection Institute (LPA) as of Saturday.

Priyo Aljabar, a popular comedian in Surabaya, said in a Facebook status message that the culture of corruption culture started by justifying and encouraging theft, including stealing exam answers.

Sia, the mother of a student of at state elementary school SDN Gadel 2 in Surabaya, East Java, recently made public allegations of cheating at the school leading to the firing of the principal and two members of the teaching staff.

An independent team convened by Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini determined that several school officials committed violations to help students pass the exams.

Sia’s effort to teach her daughter a lesson in honesty was met by a less-than-enthusiastic from reaction from hundreds of other parents who rallied in front of her home on Thursday, shouting curses and demands for her and her family to leave the area.

Police officers were deployed to the scene to protect Sia’s family from the mob and a potential riot.

Satim Heri Santosa, Sia’s brother, said that Sia, her husband and daughter had to take shelter at a local police station after the mob, which reportedly included some of the woman’s neighbors, threatened to set fire to her house.

“We want her to leave this kampong otherwise we will vandalize or burn down her house. I used to go to school and cheating was acceptable at that time,” Samiani, one of Sia’s neighbors, said.

Sia and her family fled before Saimiani and other in the crowd could make good their threats.

“My sister fled to the house of her relatives in Central Java. She couldn’t bear to see the sad state that has fallen upon her family. Her daughter felt so stressed and did not want to eat after threats from the protesters,” Satim, Sia’s older sister, said.

Mohammad Ihsan, the secretary-general of IGI’s East Java chapter, said he had collected statements of support for Sia and her family from IGI members from other regions.

Priono Adi Nugroho, secretary of LPA East Java, said the LPA would be willing to assist Sia’s daughter.

Sahudi, the head of the Surabaya Education Office, however, down played threats of mob violence as media exaggeration, saying that the education system in Indonesia was already good and needed no revision.

A sociologist at Surabaya-based Airlangga University, Surabaya Bagong Suyanto, said that people viewed national exams scores as a decisive measure of education.

“With regard to the mass cheating case at SDN Gadel II Surabaya, both the whistle-blower and the angry protesters are victims of the phenomena of excessive fear of the national exams,” Bagong said.