Out to keep the women safe

Making it loud and clear: Indonesian university students taking part in a rally to fight violence against women and to mark International Women’s Day in Jakarta recently. — Jakarta Post/ANN

JAKARTA: When a case of sexual abuse involving Gadjah Mada University (UGM) students, publicly known as the Agni case, made headlines at the end of 2018, members of the public learned that for decades, the nation and its universities have had no policies for handling such a situation.

Agni’s long battle to find justice and UGM’s initial response to her accusations revealed the serious impact of the absence of policies for this issue.Since the case came to light, several universities, including UGM, have been trying to create a set of regulations to cover the issue.

Finally, in September, a group of students and lecturers at the University of Indonesia (UI) completed a guidebook outlining the standard operating procedures (SOP) for handling sexual violence on campus or during university activities.