J

akarta International School (JIS) will file a lawsuit against the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) for defamation.

Harry Ponto, JIS'€™ legal representative, said during a press conference at Holten Sultan in Jakarta that the KPAI'€™s duty was to the children.

However, Harry said, the KPAI had mistaken its advocacy role for that of '€œlawyer'€.

'€œKPAI said that there were JIS teachers '€˜indicated'€™ to have sexually assaulted kindergarten students. They also mentioned the number of teachers reported to the police,'€ Harry said during a press conference on Monday.

Furthermore, Harry said that JIS was a reputable school that only hired professional teachers and the recent accusations hurt not only the school, but also its students and their parents.

'€œAs far as I know one parent filed a police report against teachers. We cannot say a crime happened just because of a police report,'€ he said.

KPAI secretary Erlinda said that the commission was just trying to protect the children. She also questioned the basis of defamation allegations as police reports had been filed by the parents of the three victims.

'€œFurthermore, we have never mentioned four people were reported to the police. It was the police who said that. The lawyer should check all the facts first before filing a lawsuit,'€ she said.

On Friday the Jakarta Police said that a parent of a kindergarten pupil had filed a report against teachers at the school. The police asked the immigration office to postpone the deportation of four JIS teachers to assist their investigation.

One of the 23 teachers charged with violating immigration legislation has already been deported.

With the latest police report, the Jakarta Police have now received a total of three reports of alleged sexual assault at the international school'€™s kindergarten.

Jakarta Police chief Dwi Priyatno said that the city police were focusing on solving the sexual assault cases, but added that they would need time to gather evidence, especially in relation to the allegations against the teachers

'€œBased on the latest police report we will question four teachers. However, we maintain the presumption of innocence and will not release their names or initials'€, Dwi said.

Harry also said in the press conference that he suspected certain action had been orchestrated to shut down the prestigious school.

He said that the parents who had filed the first report had influenced other parents to say their children had been sexually assaulted.

He also questioned the amount of compensation sought by the mother in her civil suit.

'€œInitially she stipulated US$12 million, but later asked for $125 million. Then two other parents filed police reports further exaggerating the issue,'€ he said.

The mother of the first victim denied that she had persuaded other parents to file police reports against JIS. She said that she was not aware that a third parent had filed a report before it was publicized.

'€œI have no reason to persuade people to fight against JIS as I believe that I already have a strong case against them,'€ she told The Jakarta Post.

She also said that she did not have any intention of extorting money from JIS through her son'€™s suffering. She underlined that she had yet to receive a penny from the school, but the public was already talking as if she had.

'€œI have no intention of making money out of this. The $125 million is just a number, it could never fully represent my son'€™s suffering,'€ she said. (idb)