Jakarta, May 7 (Antara) - The recent horrific case of gang rape and death of a 14-year old, YY, by 14 teenagers in the Rejanglebong District, Bangkulu Province, has once again triggered demands to mete out the punishment of castration to convicted rapists and pedophiles.
Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (PMK) Puan Maharani condemned the sexual assault and asked law enforcers to punish the offenders as heavily as possible.
"The government has prepared a draft regulation in lieu of Perppu UU 35/2014 on child protection that includes additional punishment of castration for those found guilty of sexual violence against children," Puan was quoted as saying by republika.co.id last Wednesday (May 4).
Purwakarta District Head Dedi Mulyadi was also quoted by republika.co.id as having expressed concern over the Rejanglebong gang rape case.
"YY was raped by 14 teenagers. In order to prevent recurrence of such cases, abusers should be rendered gelding punishment," Dedi stated.
Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister (PPPA) Yohana Yembise said the government is still discussing various aspects of such punitive measures.
"I do not know (about it) yet because I have not so far heard about it from the PMK coordinating minister. It has been reported that there will be deliberations on gelding punishment this week or the next," Minister Yohana said at her office.
She said the castration punishment issue is still under consideration because several pros and cons were involved. She even disclosed there have been threats if such a law was enacted.
"Many parties have rejected the move. Rumors have it that if it is approved, there will be large scale demonstrations. So, it is now being discussed at the PMK ministry," she said.
She said that the law to impose the gelding punishment has been drafted by the PPPA ministry and the draft is now with the PMK ministry. "The draft has been submitted to the PMK minister. Minister Puan will handle it as the issue has sparked a lot of debate about pros and cons," she said.
Minister Yohana is not inclined to reconsider the castration punishment issue in the context of the gang rape of junior high school student YY who died after being raped by 14 rapists.
Of the 14 rapists, two are still at large, while 12 have been detained, including seven under 18 years of age and, therefore, considered juvenile under the Indonesian law. These juveniles cannot be jailed for life and can only be awarded a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.
Those above 18 years of age could face a maximum punishment of life sentence for gang rape and death of the girl.
The seven juvenile suspects have been identified by the initials D alias J (17), A (17), FS (17), and S (17), in addition to DI (17), EG (16), and S (16). The minister affirmed that their parents could also be punished if it is proved that they were concealing their children's crimes.
The five other suspects who have been arrested were identified as TW (19), Sk (19), Bb (20), Fs (19), and Zl (23).
In the meantime, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Zulkifli Hasan urged the House of Representatives (DPR) to accelerate deliberations of the bill on sexual violence in response to the high rate of sexual assaults in the country.
"We hope the DPR will speed up debates of the bill on sexual violence because cases of sexual violence are increasingly dangerous," Zulkifli said during his tour of Cirebon, Friday.
Heavy punishment for those responsible for sexual violence is needed and for that the DPR has to expedite deliberations of the draft law, according to the MPR speaker.
He also asked the House to reconsider the demand of the public for emasculation of punishment for a rapist. "Castration as a punishment can be imposed. We can be angry (with a rape incident), but we need to remain rational. We can even impose a punishment heavier (than castration)," he said.
His side also encouraged the PAN faction in the House to lead the acceleration of the deliberations of the bill on sexual violence, Zulkifli, who is also the general chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) said.
The bill should be finalized soon because cases of sexual violence were cause for serious concern, he said. "We encourage the PAN faction to accelerate the deliberation of the bill," he added.
The discourse on emasculation punishment was also raised last year by the public following sodomy cases of children in recent years.
In early April 2014, a six-year-old boy at a kindergarten in Jakarta International School (JIS) reportedly contracted herpes following alleged sexual assault by outsourced cleaners in the JIS bathroom.
Another sodomy case that caught the public eye was an elementary school student in Pekanbaru city, Riau province, who reportedly confessed to have been sexually assaulted on several occasions by his neighbor who is a junior high school student.
For this reason, the public raised discourse to impose gelding punishment.
The punishment can be imparted through various approaches to reduce the libido of the offenders, such as libido neurosurgery and injections. Castration does not necessarily mean the removal of the testicles of the offenders.
Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa stated that the discourse on the imposition of a gelding punishment through a libido neurosurgery surfaced as part of the efforts to protect children from sexual abuse.
"If castration is considered to be a violation of human rights, then what about the rights of the children and their parents after they have become the victims of sexual crimes. What about sexually abused and addicted children?" the social affairs minister questioned in October last year.
She emphasized that the issues should be jointly addressed with the main objective of safeguarding the rights of children.
Parawansa pointed out that a libido neurosurgery would not be automatically conducted on the offenders, and there must be a well-defined standard, criterion, and classification.
"It could be done, for instance, on serial offenders. Sodomy often leads to a chain of sodomies, and pedophilia resulted in a series of pedophilia violence," she affirmed.***2***(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 07-05-2016 23:58:4 |
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