T

he Jakarta Police are scheduled to question four cleaners with Danish outsourcing company PT Integrated Service Solutions (ISS) Indonesia in relation to a child sexual abuse allegation at HighScope Indonesia school in South Jakarta.

'€œWe previously scheduled them for an interview last week, but PT ISS asked for a postponement, so as far as I know, they will be questioned on Tuesday or Wednesday,'€ Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Martinus Sitompul told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Last month, the mother of a 7-year-old boy at the school filed a report with the Jakarta Police, claiming that her son had been sexually assaulted by an unidentified person in one of the school'€™s toilets on March 17.

Previously, in a controversial case, the South Jakarta District Court sentenced five outsourced cleaners from PT ISS to seven and eight years imprisonment for sexually abusing a kindergarten student at the Jakarta Intercultural School (JIS).

According to Martinus, the investigators have so far questioned six witnesses regarding the case in HighScope: the boy, his mother, their lawyer, the boy'€™s two teachers and the school'€™s facility manager. He added that the police were investigating the case under article 80 of the Child Protection Law.

Last week, Jakarta Police criminal investigation director Sr. Comr. Heru Pranoto said Jakarta Police investigators had seen no match between the school'€™s CCTV record and the testimony of the boy.

'€œThere are differences between the statements of the alleged victim and the footage,'€ Heru said.

Meanwhile, HighScope CEO and founder Antarina Amir emphasized that the school was ready to provide any information and coordinate with the police during the case investigation.

'€œOn March 25, we were visited by the police, which was shocking for us. However, we were cooperative. We showed our school and were open to both the family and the police,'€ she on Monday during a visit to the Post'€™s office adding that the police came again on March 31 to take CCTV footage.

She said the school had also communicated with other parents to explain the situation. '€œWe have asked the parents to see this as a crime that should be battled together because such [sexual] crime, whatever the causes, has spread around the world,'€ she said.

Antarina said the school conducted an internal investigation by interviewing teachers, checking CCTVs and consulting with forensic experts.

She said HighScope had elevated the school security since the sexual abuse case in JIS broke last year and had adopted a stricter approach such as adding CCTVs after the case was reported in their own school.

She added that the toilets for children were separated from those for adults and the cleaners were prohibited from staying in the toilets when there was a student inside.

Antarina said the toilet that was mentioned as the crime scene was located on the main corridor of the main foyer. '€œAccording to the CCTV, it was hard to get a view [of the toilet] because there were so many people that were passing,'€ she said, adding that the crime allegedly took place during the school science fair where parents came to watch children'€™s performances.

She said to date, teaching and learning activities at the school continued as normal despite the investigation and the school had maintained the boy'€™s anonymity among the other students. (rbk)