Citra Maudy, the student of Faculty of Social and Political Science of UGM, is a journalist from BPPM Balairung. On March 8th, we invited her to Tempo Institute office for #Move4Women #internationalwomensday event.
I was so proud that afternoon to present the award of #Move4Women to Citra and Balairung. I was so thrilled to see an articulate young lady with a wide array of knowledge like Citra, telling us the story about the process to gain Agni’s (not her real name) trust. Agni was a victim and survivor of sexual violence done by her on-the-job training friend. It took Citra a while to finally won Agni’s trust and convinced her to share her bitter story. “Agni that I met, was so different from Agni prior to the incident,” Citra said. Agni was a lively persona and so full of life. Now she is covered in gloom. Her heavy eye-bags are proof that she had difficulties sleeping.
Long story short, Agni agreed to share her story with Balairung. There was a big hoo-ha. Waves of reaction came, rage and anger were spread from the campus that was busy trying to save their reputation. Defensive statements came from every corner. “I was summoned by the police, interrogated about my motive behind my writing on Agni’s case. I was accused of deliberately aggravating the political predicament,” she explained.
What…?! I failed to comprehend, how come unveiling the victim’s story was
accused with a political motive? Absurd!
Agni’s case eventually ended absurdly too, just like many other sexual violence cases. The university decided to go through a peace process because they “do not want to jeopardize both of students’ future.”
Agni is just the tip of the iceberg. Thank you, Citra, for being brave and telling us about Agni’s story. Thank you for representing all other victims and survivors.
