The Jakarta Post

Jakarta

The police have named a former Starbucks Indonesia employee a suspect in a sexual harassment case after he posted a video on social media showing himself and another employee looking at a female customer’s cleavage through a CCTV camera.

The police charged the man, identified as D, under the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law.

“D posted the video on his Instagram account, and it went viral. We have named him a suspect as we have received a police report and questioned witnesses,” Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Yusri Yunus said on Friday, as quoted by tempo.co.

Another former Starbucks employee, identified as K, who is seen in the video zooming into the CCTV footage, apparently to get a clearer look at the woman’s cleavage, is a witness in the case.

The lack of public safety for women is a pressing problem in Indonesia, where harassment is rampant and often unaddressed.

The Coalition for Safe Public Spaces (KPRA), a coalition made up of PerEMPUan and four other organizations, took a nationwide survey in 2018 on the state of sexual harassment in the country. 

Of the survey’s 62,224 respondents, 46.8 percent said they had been sexually harassed on the street or on public transportation. 

The most commonly reported modes of public transportation where harassment had occurred were buses (35.8 percent), public minivans (29.49 percent), the commuter line (18.14 percent), app-based ride hailing services (4.79 percent) and conventional taxis (4.27 percent). 

Some of the sexual harassment was verbal, such as catcalling, commenting on the person’s body and overtly sexual or sexist comments. Other harassment was physical, including upskirting (unwanted photographs taken up a skirt), unwanted sexual attention, unwanted touch and public masturbation, among others. 

On the commuter line, sexual harassment reports have increased over the years, partly because of increasing awareness about the issue. 

In 2017, 18 cases were reported. The number nearly doubled in 2018 to 34 cases. In 2019, there were 35. It is widely believed that most sexual harassment cases go unreported and that these were only a small fraction of the actual number of incidents. 

In an effort to reduce such incidents and create a sense of security, women-only train cars have been implemented on certain modes of public transportation.

In the Starbucks case, the police apprehended D and K on Thursday evening after the victim filed a police report.

Yusri said the police had charged D with violating Article 45 of the ITE Law, which prohibits sharing videos and other electronic media that violate morality standards. The provision carries a maximum punishment of six years’ imprisonment and a Rp 1 billion (US$68,997) fine.

Starbucks Indonesia has apologized for the incident and has fired the two employees implicated. “We were extremely troubled to learn of this incident, and it is a matter we take seriously. [...] We took immediate action to investigate and ensure it does not happen again,” the company announced on its Instagram account.

Indonesia is not the only country paying close attention to issues of sexual harassment and violence in public places. Other countries have also sought to increase public awareness.

In Bangkok, ActionAid Thailand and several other organizations launched the Theung Wela Pheuk (Time to Intervene) Campaign in 2017, which encourages bystanders to prevent sexual harassment through timely intervention. 

In Victoria, Australia, Crime Stoppers, the Victoria Police and Public Transport Victoria launched the #HandsOffCampaign in 2017, urging communities to help identify alleged sexual violence offenders on public transportation. 

The campaign gained the support of nearly 1 million people on social media during its first week. 

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