A female journalist from the media apahabar.com in Jakarta, experienced harassment while covering the Ummat Party National Working Meeting at the Hajj Dormitory, Pondok Gede, East Jakarta, on Tuesday, February 14 2023.
That day, the victim and other journalists will conduct interviews with presidential candidate Anies Baswedan, who took part in a series of activities for the Ummat Party National Working Meeting.
According to the victim, that day it was very crowded with party cadres. Especially the conditions outside meeting room which were bustling with party cadres. According to the victim, the committee has actually provided a special room for journalist's press conferences with Anies Baswedan.
However, from several sources he received, it was stated that Anies Baswedan did not want to hold an interview in that special room. The source told the victim and journalists who were present that Anies only wanted to hold a press conference with ummat party cadres, at the door of the meeting room.
The victim said journalists had asked Anies to stay in the meeting room for an interview. "Sir, here's the interview. But he still didn't want to, and he only wanted to do an interview in front of the door of the meeting room, don't know why that was, maybe so it would look crowded," the victim told to AJI.
Because of that, the victim and other journalists who were in charge of covering the activity also moved out of the room in front of the door. The condition outside the room was already very crowded with ummat party cadres. Because it was crowded, the atmosphere was also starting to get a little chaotic.
At that time the victim was in the middle of the crowd outside the door of the meeting room. To protect her working tools stored in the bag, the victim positioned her bag at the front of her body.
In this crowded condition, the victim's body was pushed several times from behind. At that time, she heard instructions from the Ummat Party, which said the media could move forward.
At that time, the crowd was already very crowded and there were also many other journalists who were restrained from coming forward near Anies. To find a strategic position, the victim communicated with other journalists so they could be given free space to move forward.
During such noisy and crowded conditions, the victim felt a hand holding and pinching the back of his body, to be precise his buttocks. The victim was shocked and annoyed at the harassment, and reflexively turned her face to see who was the perpetrator. When she turned around, she only saw the faces of the ummat party cadres, who were right behind her.
"When I turned around, I immediately saw a lot of Ummat party cadres, but I did not know and could not identify who was the perpetrator," said the victim. The victim was deeply traumatized by this case.