JAKARTA: Baiq Nuril Maknun, a high school bookkeeper has been confronting alleged sexual harassment by her former superior, the principal and therofore recorded an obscene call to use as evidence but pays high price- she lost her job and went to jail.
The case of Maknun, from Mataram on the island of Lombok, Indonesia is now before Indonesia’s Supreme Court, the New York Times reports.
A 40-year-old mother of three got a temporary job helping with accounting at a high school in 2010. A new principal, who goes by the one name, Muslim, arrived in 2013.
In 2010, she got a temporary job helping with accounting at Senior High School Seven Mataram in Lombok’s capital. But her troubles started in 2013 with the arrival of a brand new principal, who goes by the one name, Muslim.
In April of that year, according to Nuril, Muslim began speaking to her regularly in lewd phrases in person as well as after hours on the phone.
In the hope of gathering evidence, she decided to record his indecent phone conversation. But the recording was made public, not by Ms. Nuril, but other teachers from the school who had copied recording from her phone and distributed it.
The principal lost his post after the incident. But in retaliation, he filed a criminal defamation case against Ms Nuril for distributing the recording, which she never did.
Supreme Court’s ruling in November found Ms. Nuril not responsible for defamation but guilty of violating Article 27 of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law and ruled that she must serve a six-month sentence and pay a Rp 500 million (US$33,749) fine.
Indonesia’s law against sexual harassment does not cover sexually explicit and verbal lewd telephone calls unless there is also physical contact.
According to women’s advocates, Indonesian women are expected to tolerate sexual relations or harassment with their bosses — as the price of keeping a job.
“As long as the law does not change, women will forever be closed off and will never want to report it,” Mr. Joko said. “Especially if you look at Nuril’s case. You are the victim, but then you are the one who is put into prison,” reported NYT