A young Indonesian woman has recounted how she tracked down a man who groped her on the street in broad daylight, in what has become one of the nation’s most high profile “Me Too” moments.
Named only as Amanda, the 22-year-old told local media that she posted CCTV footage of a man on a motorcycle grabbing her breast while she was walking alone in the city of Depok, West Java, because she believed her complaint was not being taken seriously by the police.
The clip went viral on social media and the suspect, 29, was subsequently arrested. “The police say my case is progressing quickly,” said Amanda. “But I think it is only because I made it go viral. Sexual harassment happens all the time, but people – including the police – don’t see it as a real problem.”
Local play on #MeToo campaign to shed further light on sexual harassment
Her bold decision to go public resonated in a country where grassroots women’s movements are starting to spring up to fight back against widespread street harassment.
“It’s an epidemic, and, unfortunately, at the moment, Indonesia has no legal protection for sexual harassment,” Yuniyanti Chuzaifah, vice chairwoman of the National Commission on Violence Against Women told the New York Times in December.