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ublic ignorance and poor law enforcement have made children vulnerable to crime, particularly rape, a child protection activist has said.

The recent murder and rape of a junior high school student in Bengkulu, Sumatra, is an example of how the public ignores such gross crimes, National Commission on Child Protection chairman Arist Merdeka Sirait said Monday.

The victim’s body was found naked on April 4, but news reports of the incident were difficult to find even days later. Some local media outlets reported the murder and rape, but they treated it as an ordinary crime — alongside news on landslides and the junior high school final exams.

“Those are some of the reasons crimes against children in Indonesia are rampant. This is why rape against children continues to occur, including the recent murder and rape of a 14-year-old girl in Bengkulu,” Arist said.

Expressing his concern over the nation’s disregard the crime, Arist said that the way Indonesians reacted to crimes against children was “as bad as some countries that poorly enforce the law on child rape”.

Meanwhile, to help support the police in handling the case, the National Commission on Child Protection has teamed up with the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry to investigate the case.

The joint team began its investigation early this week and expects results soon.

The girl was found dead in a desolate bushland area in Padang Ulak Tanding district, Rejang Lebong regency, Bengkulu. Local police have already arrested 12 of the 14 suspects, following the discovery of her decomposing body.

“Of the 12 suspects that have been arrested, six of them are minors. Two of these minors are junior high school students. They allegedly committed the crime after drinking tuak [palm liquor],” Rejang Lebong Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Dirmanto said.

After drinking the liquor, they waited on the side of a road routinely passed by the victim on her way home from school. Some of those suspects, who police believe to be the girl’s schoolmates, approached her and dragged her into the bush before raping and killing her, Antara news agency reported.

Three suspects, aged between 17 and 19, were nabbed during a special operation involving policemen and village leaders four days after the girl’s body was found.

From those three suspects, the police acquired information about the other nine suspects and arrested them the following day. Two of those suspects were the girl’s seniors at school, police said.

Ironically, some of the suspects joined the search for the girl, Dirmanto said. “They also helped dig the grave for her burial,” he added.