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UGM yet to pass antisexual violence rules
More than a year after a widely publicized case of alleged sexual abuse rocked Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta, the university has still not passed its promised regulation on sexual violence prevention
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span>More than a year after a widely publicized case of alleged sexual abuse rocked Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta, the university has still not passed its promised regulation on sexual violence prevention.
In November 2018, UGM’s student magazine, Balairung, published an investigative report into a case of alleged sexual abuse. The victim, Agni (a pseudonym), a student in the School of Social and Political Sciences, alleged that HS, a student in UGM’s School of Engineering, sexually abused her during a community service assignment in a Maluku village on June 30, 2017.
The case promptly made headlines and UGM was criticized for its slow handling of the case and accused of victim blaming.
A team submitted a draft of the sexual violence regulation to the UGM rector in April this year. However, the rector has yet to approve the regulation.
The university had promised to pass the regulation before Dec. 13. The promise was conveyed by UGM’s deputy rector for education, learning and student affairs, Djagal Wiseso Marseno, who also signed a commitment during a student rally on the campus.
However, with the date having come and gone, it is apparent the university has failed to uphold its promise.
“UGM’s rector violated the agreement. This shows the university is not serious about protecting victims of sexual violence on campus,” the UGM Student Union said in an official statement on Sunday.
The hashtag #UGMBohongLagi (UGM Lies Again) trended on Twitter on Tuesday, with more than 10,000 tweets expressing disappointment in the university and demanding the rector immediately pass the regulation on sexual violence.
The head of the UGM team that drafted the regulation, Muhadjir Darwin, said it should not have taken so long for the rector to endorse the regulation, as his team had made sure the draft corresponded with existing regulations in other universities and relevant laws.
According to Muhadjir, if the draft regulation was considered flawed, the university should have asked the drafting team to amend it. “They haven’t asked for that, so there’s no reason to delay the endorsement,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
The draft regulation contains 11 chapters and 36 articles. If passed, the regulation would serve as the foundation for gender mainstreaming on campus through the integration of gender and sexual violence topics into courses and activities.
Furthermore, it would require the establishment of an integrated case handling system coordinated by the deputy rector for human resources and assets. The system would consist of an integrated service unit that would receive reports on sexual violence on campus and assist the victims, an ethics committee that would investigate cases and hand down sanctions to perpetrators and a unit dubbed the Gender Focal Point that would develop materials about preventing sexual violence within the university.
The delays in approving the regulation, Muhadjir said, showed the university was not aware of the urgent need to address sexual violence on campus. He added that the university’s ignorance on the matter had also been demonstrated in the way it had handled Agni’s case.
“The university is trapped in a rape culture and has yet to cultivate a consent culture,” Muhadjir said.
Meanwhile, UGM rector Panut Mulyono denied claims the handling of the draft regulation had been problematic. He said he had handed the draft regulation to the university senate on Dec. 9 for further review.
From the date the draft regulation was submitted, the rector took seven months to evaluate it before handing it to the senate.
The UGM Student Union has been left perplexed by the lengthy process, claiming the rector had announced during a November rally that he had already handed the draft to the senate.
“The senate’s involvement also raises questions. According to a regulation from UGM’s legal office, the mechanism to pass a rector regulation does not involve the senate,” said Kevin Krissentanu, the chief advocate of the UGM Student Union.
Panut added that the senate had discussed the draft regulation with the deputy rector for human resources and assets, Bambang Agus Kironoto, and had suggested some minor revisions to the draft.
“Improvements [to the draft regulation] have been made. We will have to wait for the senate’s approval in January because there will not be a plenary meeting in December, as everyone is preparing for the university’s 70th anniversary,” he said on Monday. (aly)
