Indonesian Woman Jailed for Recording Boss’s Harassment to Be Given Amnesty

Last year, a woman who was sexually harassed by her boss was sentenced to jail after she recorded a lewd call between the two of them where he was giving her unwanted sexual attention. Nuril Makanun, a part time bookkeeper at a highschool in Indonesia, was accused of defamation and distribution of obscene material after she secretly recorded the phone call and passed it onto a colleague to prove that she was not having an affair with her boss. When her boss found out about the recording, he said that he would extend her contract if the recording was deleted. When Nuril refused, he called the police on her and she was charged with distributing pornography and criminal defamation. The defamation charge did not stick, and she was placed on trial for distributing obscene material. While the trial jury acquitted her, prosecutors appealed and called for the case to be shown to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court found Numil guilty, while her boss was never charged with a crime. She was sentenced to six months in jail and given a $35,000 fine, which she would have to serve more time for if she could not pay. Luckily, President Joko Widodo stated that once she had exhausted all of her appeals, he would consider granting Nuril clemency, claiming “Since the beginning, my attention to this case has never diminished…If it gets to me, then it will be under my authority, and I will use the authority I have.” When Nuril’s appeals were exhausted, the President asked Parliament to approve amnesty, which was granted. Her employer, Muslim, was not charged with any crime. 

Sexual harassment in under Indonesian law does not include verbal abuse alone, it must be coupled with some sort of physical contact. Legislation that would protect women from verbal abuses under sexual assault have been stalled in Parliment, leaving a loophole allowing for female degredation. It is difficult to imagine how Parliament would be able to accept evidence of verbal harassment, since circulation of these materials falls under distribution of obscene materials. 

Nuril’s story is just one of many examples of sexual harassment faced by women in Indonesia. There is not much legal recourse for perpetrators, and women are expected to endure harassment even if it occurs at a threat to their jobs or livelihoods. This case also calls into question the gender inequalities in the Indonesian judicial system, since Niril was charged and not Muslim. Muslim’s lawyer, Asmuni, stated: “Men have to be protected, too…She is an ungrateful person and does not know her place,” demonstrating the lack of protection for women in the legal and judicial system. 

I think it is interesting to learn how gender influences how a “criminal” is treated. In this case, for standing up for herself against harassment, she was originally charged with defamation. However, Muslim admitted that it was his voice on the call and that he did make those remarks, yet that did not throw out the case against Nuril. She still had to jump through hoops until her case was finally heard. Not many women before her or after will be as lucky, but the plight they all go through is the same. Why must they take harassment just to survive? Where are the punishments for the abusers and harassers?