Baiq Nuril Reads Out Emotional Letter for the President

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Baiq Nuril, a staffer of SMAN 7 Mataram State High School, sentenced to six months' imprisonment for violating the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law – was unable to hold back tears while reading out her letter for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. 

Her letter retells her story since the beginning of the case which many assume that Baiq had been wrongly accused. This letter also expressed her hopes of the president pardoning her with amnesty.

The letter was handed over to Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko together with thousands of letters of support from members of the public for her to be granted the president’s amnesty.

“Your excellency Bapak President, the case I am facing all started back in 2013. The ‘terror’ that was done by my employer happened numerous times, not just through phone calls, but also in meetings in real life,” said Baiq Nuril at the Bina Graha Building, Presidential Palace Complex in Jakarta on Monday, July 15.

She then retold her harrowing story of sexual harassment by the former principal of SMAN 7 Mataram, where she used to teach. At this moment, Nuril was unable to hold back her tears.

The letter she wrote talked about the implications of the case she had undergone and what it has done to the lives of family members. Baiq Nuril told that her husband had to resign from his work to accompany their children and herself throughout the court trials.

She maintained that she never intended to humiliate any individual when she decided to record her conversation with her harasser but was forced into a situation where by doing so would fend-off the sexual harassment toward her.

AHMAD FAIZ IBNU SANI

Read also: Immediate Process for Baiq Nuril's Appeal for Amnesty: Jokowi