A member of the Workers Social Security Agency’s (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan) supervisory board, Syafri Adnan Baharuddin, has resigned from his position as he is facing an accusation of sexual harassment from one of his assistants.

Syafri asserted the resignation was not a form of admittance to any accusation of misconduct, but rather his attempt to be more focused on legal steps he would take against his accuser so the agency's work was not disrupted.

“I won’t hesitate to take legal action against any individual abusing their powers in judging someone unilaterally,” he said at a press briefing on Sunday, as quoted by kompas.com.

Moreover, Syafri also denied the allegation of harassment against his former assistant RA, calling the accusation “vile slander”.

In a press statement made available to The Jakarta Post, RA, who used to work as Syafri’s expert assistant, accused his former boss of sexually assaulting her at least four times between April 2016 and November this year.

She also said she was harassed both during and outside of working hours. She said she always avoided Syafri whenever possible but the alleged attacks happened when she could not avoid it. Some of the alleged attacks happened during an out-of-town assignment, which RA said was orchestrated by Syafri.

"Why did the assaults happen again and again? I don't have any definitive answer. I was probably too stupid or too scared to fight. I was scared of him as he is a dominant, respected figure, whom many in [her office] are afraid of," RA said in the statement.

“At one point, I felt hopeless and tried to end my life, but it did not happen thanks to one of my friends,” RA wrote in the statement.

After the first case in 2016, she had reported her superior's sexual misconduct to another member of the agency’s advisory council, who responded with a promise to protect RA from any sexual misconduct, RA said.

The promise, however, was not fulfilled as RA claimed she never got any protection.

The string of sexual misconduct cases came to a head in early December, when RA went to the chairman of the advisory council to file a complaint for the harassment. In an unexpected turn of events, RA claimed she got a collective agreement letter from the council to terminate her contract, which RA declined to sign.

BPJS Ketenagakerjaan spokesman Irvansyah Utoh Banja dismissed RA’s claim about the contract termination.

“The advisory council suspended both SAB and RA from their respective positions as an attempt to keep the peace as well as providing an opportunity to both individuals to focus on resolving their personal issues,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday, referring to Syafri’s initials.

Irvansyah added that RA’s complaint had been forwarded to the National Social Security Council (DJSN), which is authorized by the regulation to form an ad hoc team to follow up on the issue. The team will consist of five people comprising the council, the Manpower Ministry and experts.

While respecting Syafri’s attempt to take legal action regarding the matter, human rights watchdog the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) warned law enforcers, especially the police, to be more careful in handling such cases by taking into account RA’s rights.

“The victim shouldn’t be prosecuted for her testimony, nor be named a suspect for alleged defamation because her testimony was made in self-defense. Should SAB file a report against RA, the police should be professional in obtaining information from RA,” ICJR executive director Anggara said.

He added that protection for sexual harassment victims should be a priority for law enforcers handling the case, as the harassment could traumatize the victim. (evi)