RAPISTS-CUM-MURDERERS DESERVE HARSH PUNISHMENT by Fardah

Jakarta, May 25, 2016 (Antara) - More and more horrific and brutal rape-cum-murders have been reported across the country lately even as the public and the government continue to debate harsher punishments that should be meted out to the criminals.

        Among the latest rape-cum-murder cases were the brutal killing of 18-year-old Eno in Tangerang, Banten Province, on May 13, 2016, and the tragic death of two and a half year old Laela Nurhidaya in Bogor, West Java Province, on May 8, 2016.

        The Metro Jaya Jakarta Police recently arrested  RAL (16), RA (24), and IH (24), suspects in the Eno murder case.

           The three had allegedly brutally raped and killed Eno in a rented house in Kosambi, Teluknaga Sub-district, Tangerang.

           They claimed they did not know each other before, but were infuriated with Eno because she had spurned their advances. One of them inserted a hoe handle into Eno's vagina. 
    Meanwhile, in the other case, baby Laela was raped twice and later killed by Budiansyah (26) when she had come to his house to play with his niece  in Girimulya village, Bogor. He later dumped the infant's body in the backyard of his house.

         Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansah was in tears while visiting Laela's family to express her sympathy and condolences. She was just a baby, the minister mumbled.

         The public was also shocked following a case of pedophilia in which 60-year-old businessman Soni Sandra had allegedly sexually abused 58 under-aged girls in Kediri, East Java Province.

         Two separate courts in Kediri City and Kediri District awarded nine and 10-year jail terms, respectively, to the pedophile.

         In the court, it was revealed that the defendant had drugged the children to make them dizzy, their faces becoming red, before sexually assaulting them.

         Afterwards, the children were given Rp400,000 each and promised that their needs would be met.

         According to data from the National Commission on Violence Against Women, some 35 Indonesian women suffer from sexual violence daily.

          Several politicians and NGOs are of the view that Indonesia is in a state of emergency following a spurt in sexual crimes. The discovery of 14-year-old Yuyun's bound body in a Bengkulu ravine, last April, lent the issue a sense of urgency.

        The eighth grader was gang-raped by 14 young men, some of them under-aged, and then murdered.

        Yuyun's tragic death sparked a public outcry across the country, and triggered demands for death penalty for the perpetrators.

          "The state should seriously respond to sexual crimes that have occurred lately," Reni Marlinawati, a member of Commission X of the House of Representatives, advocated recently.

          Sexual assaults against children and women are crimes that have caused trauma and have had a wide-ranging impact on the victims. Hence, the perpetrators deserve severe punishment.

          In several countries like India, Thailand and Yemen, sadistic rapists-cum-murderers, who clearly disregarded their victims' rights and taken their life, could get death penalty.

          Many Indonesian netizens urged the law enforcers to impose death penalty on rapist-cum-killers, seen as sadistic monsters who could threaten the lives of other children if they remain at large.

          Human rights activists , however, strongly oppose death penalty as they consider the capital punishment barbaric and violating the criminals' human rights. 
     In response to the rampant cases of sexual assaults against children, President Joko Widodo  (Jokowi) on May 25, 2016, signed a government regulation, brought in lieu of law (Perppu) number 1 of 2016 on child protection.

         "This Perppu is aimed at dealing with an emergency situation caused by the increasing number of cases of sexual violence against children," Jokowi observed.

          He explained that Perppu Number 1/2016 will regulate the increased sentence and additional sentences as well as other measures for perpetrators of sexual violence against children and in cases of child molestation, based upon certain conditions.

          "These crimes have undermined the development of children, and have disturbed our sense of peace, security and public order," he pointed out, adding, "We will handle it in an extraordinary way."
    The increased sentence include an additional one third of a  sentence for criminal charges, death penalty, or life imprisonment, or a jail sentence, with a minimum punishment of 10 years and a maximum of 20 years.

         As for additional sentences, they will include revealing the identities of perpetrators, the imposition of castration by chemical method and installation of an electronic tracking device.

        President Joko Widodo hoped the additional regulations would leave judges with enough room to impose the heaviest penalty possible as a deterrent effect on perpetrators.

        "We hope this Perppu will have a deterrent effect on the perpetrators and will help reduce the cases of sexual crimes against children as these are extraordinary crimes," he underlined.

        The head of state has declared sex crimes against children as extraordinary crimes following an increase in the number of such cases in the country recently.

        Such cases must be handled using extraordinary methods and the government must also act in an extraordinary fashion, he stated.

         Children are the future of the nation. Hurting them means harming the nation's future.

         Therefore, they must be protected from any kind of evil deeds that could hurt them, and even take their life. ***2***

(T.F001/A/BESSR) 25-05-2016 23:23:18