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mid criticism of its mishandling of sexual harassment allegations, the Jakarta Paskibraka Full Corps (PPI) says it will revamp its training for teen flag-bearers.

“We’re still waiting for the results of the investigation by the Jakarta Police. However, we realize that such incidents might happen in the future. We’ve been conducting an internal evaluation of our standard operating procedures,” PPI spokesman Arief Timbul Parkusip told reporters on Wednesday.

Arief said that the PPI would create a new manual for next year’s team that would be based on
the evaluation’s results so there would be no misunderstandings or misinterpretations during future trainings.

The PPI would likely work with the NGO Plan Indonesia in the future to develop training on the rights and obligations of trainers and trainees so everyone would be aware of sexual harassment, he said.

Another PPI spokesman, Armijn Navaro Soedjati said: “Even though we had not conducted an investigation at that time, we did make an official apology to the parents after they filed a complaint on the evening of August 17, as had been demanded.”

Several parents of junior team members lodged a complaint with Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo, alleging that their daughters had been forced by senior team members to walk naked from a bathroom to their sleeping quarters and their sons ordered to strip and do push-ups on top of each other during an orientation program in Cibubur, East Jakarta, from July 2 to 6.

A male member recently told The Jakarta Post that the push-up tradition started in 2005.

According to the PPI’s internal investigation, female members were actually clad in towels when forced to walk from the bathroom to their barracks. The report did not state if “cold push-ups” were a PPI tradition.

The PPI is the body appointed by the government to select Paskibra and Paskibraka national flag-bearers.

Four senior team members were suspended after the results of the PPI’s investigation were announced. This year’s trainers were comprised of team members who served between 2006 and 2009.

Two parents, Lauren Neville Djunaedi and Yusuf Ginting, reported the PPI to the police in September for alleged indecency, although the reports did not clearly define the acts as sexual harassment.

Lauren said police interviewed eight trainees, including her child, as witnesses to the incident. (rch)