🇮🇩 Indonesia reels from British rape case

Hello friends!

My 20 percent off for 2020 deal is running for the next few days so get a bargain here:

This is not a nice one, so my feelings will not be hurt if you skip this read. A lot of sexual violence and anti-LGBT rhetoric ahead. 

It’s a truism on which foreign journalists have dined for decades — Indonesia punches well below its weight when it comes to courting international headlines. 

So when a story breaks through, it’s big. Usually, it’s about haze or the goddamned capital move (we’ll get to that next week) but this is a whole new thing. The case of Reynhard Sinaga, now known as the UK’s most prolific rapist, is being seen not just as a revolting personal failure on the 36-year-old’s behalf but as a stain on the entire country.

There’s plenty written by both Indonesians and foreigners on how Indonesians view the nation-state and its reputation etc and that’s not what we get into here. That’s a much bigger conversation and someone like Reynhard doesn’t deserve to be centred in it, even though the dark parts have to be acknowledged. Ooh, got a bit philosophical here sorry everyone, I’m back in Australia and January is always a bit fraught so I think it’s on the brain! 

Anyway. Today we’ll look at a couple of different angles to the case and how it is being received and covered in Indonesia. Please keep the LGBT community in your thoughts, some of the absolute filth I’ve seen has been terrible. 

Reynhard's rape case tarnishes Indonesia’s global reputation: State Palace (The Jakarta Post)

Speaking on behalf of the government, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said Reynhard’s case “whether we like it or not, has smeared our reputation.” He also expressed regret for the victims and reinforced Indonesia’s image of itself as polite and courteous. Which is somehow both true and stands in stark contrast to the bilious conversation around Indonesia’s own LGBT community since. 

Father of UK’s most prolific rapist wanted in connection with palm oil deforestation case in Indonesia (Coconuts Jakarta)

As soon as Reynhard Sinaga’s name was made public the dive into his family and life back in Indonesia began. Father Saibun Sinaga has given a few public comments, saying the life sentence fits the crime, but it got weird quickly. Saibun has been linked to a Riau deforestation case with one Environment and Forestry Agency investigator telling Kumparan he is still a ‘wanted’ man. 

Indonesia's LGBT community fears repercussions after UK's 'most prolific rapist' jailed (ABC)

For the LGBT community, the case is fresh fodder for which to be attacked. ABC reports that in the immediate aftermath of the revelations, online trolls and conservative groups said the crimes were ‘evidence’ that LGBT people are ‘evil,’ ‘mentally ill’ or they ‘need to be cured.’

An LGBT advocacy group in Jakarta, Arus Pelangi, said the Sinaga case would potentially "thicken the stigmatisation" of the community in Indonesia.

"It will definitely bring further discrimination to the LGBT community here in Indonesia," said Stacey Nikolay, head of communications for the advocacy group.

LGBT community faces backlash after Reynhard Sinaga's rape conviction (The Guardian)

Those online slurs have very real-world effects. Mohammad Idris, mayor of Reynhard’s hometown Depok to the south of Jakarta, has called on citizens to dob in ‘deviant behaviours.’ Even more worryingly, he has given police the green light to conduct raids on potential LGBT haunts. 

Observers express concern about reporting of Reynhard case (The Jakarta Post)

What role has Indonesian media played in furthering some of those insidious messages? A dang big one, warns media observers. “The media in Indonesia is trying to contextualize the case by looking into Reynhard’s family background, his ethnicity and his past personal life and actually presented unrelated opinions with regard to his crimes. The media could have linked the case, for example, with the urgent need for the sexual violence bill to be passed in Indonesia,” Firman Imanuddin of Remotivi (seriously, go follow them now) said at a press conference.

‘I hope he rots in hell’: Victims of Indonesian serial rapist Reynhard Sinaga speak out (Channel News Asia) 

I’ve deliberately avoided the more yellow of the British press, which is a general rule but amplified here by the titillation of sex crime reporting making the whole thing abhorrent. This one from Channel News Asia I think walks the fine line well, with a focus on victims and the police investigation. 

“I will never forget the day the police came to see me. I did not know why they needed to see me but I can say I was absolutely devastated to hear that I had been a victim of rape, after being drugged and this sexual act was filmed by a man I now know to be Sinaga,” one survivor said. 

Why male victims and survivors need their own support system (The Conversation)

I found this one from the Conversation fascinating. It focuses on how the British system fails men and boys that are victims of sexual violence with policy falling under the violence against women and girls umbrella, despite the different needs and circumstances. I don’t know how this works in Australia, let alone across Southeast Asia but it was an illuminating read nonetheless.