TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) spokesperson Mary Silvita on Thursday urged the public to closely monitor the legal proceedings of the horrific sexual violence case against 13 female students across Islamic boarding schools (Pesantren) in Bandung. The school’s owner and teacher had allegedly molested his own students for a number of years.

This case of severe sexual violence shocked the public after news broke out about the owner of a female boarding school teacher and founder, Herry Wirawan, sexually molesting victims aged between 13-16 years old. His disgusting crime had reportedly caused eight of the students to give birth.

Wirawan is the founder of three boarding schools: Tahfiz al-Ikhlas, Manarul Huda Antapani Foundation, and Madani Boarding School Cibiru. He was arrested on May 18. He is also a known figure in Bandung who is affiliated with the local branch of Islamic organization MUI and head of the Bandung Islamic boarding school forum.

“We shall collectively ‘escort’ this case and push for the most severe punishment for the perpetrator. He is worthy of chemical castration,” said Silvita in a written statement on December 9.

She said the PSI Solidarity Committee for the Protection of Women and Children (KSPPA) decided to directly escort the legal proceedings of the tragic case and the protection for the young girls and their parents.

However, conflicting data regarding the number of babies born pushed PSI to conduct an independent investigation on December 4 and visited the boarding schools. Among the many anomalies they found at the location, the most depressing one is when neighbors of one of the boarding schools realized the existence of toddlers who strangely looked similar to the suspect and are all at similar ages.

PSI’s questioning of neighbors also found boarding school students would also immediately get into their rooms as the teacher arrived. Another depressing fact was that neighbors of the suspect’s boarding schools often see the teen students do daily chores and even work on building a gate for one of the Islamic boarding schools instead of studying.

Mary insists that the suspect had deceived and physically exploited his students and completely ruined the future of the teen students. Unfortunately, she said the public may never know the actual number of victims as many students have graduated from the Pesantren over the years.

Read: DPR's Legislative Body Approves Bill on Sexual Violence

FRISKI RIANA