LBH Apik last Friday (18 June) announced that it is open for reports by victims of ex-radio announcer, ex-cofounder of Lawless Jakarta and YouTube personality Gofar Hilman. Aside from the viral Twitter user @quweenjojo who spoke up about her experience, LBH Apik has received reports from seven victims.

Talks about Gofar’s alleged sexual assault arose when @quweenjojo posted a thread on her Twitter account on 8 June, sharing her experience of being violated by Gofarwhen they happened to meet at an event in Malang. She added that there were people supporting him.

Gofar denied the accusation. In his own thread, he said noone he was with during the event confirmed such a thing. He added that he will take this matter to the court as it is a form of defamation.

However, other victims began to speak up too. Twitter user @clairenanno shared her and her friends’ experience when they met Gofar and they took a picture together. A screenshot Whatsapp chat with her friends reveals thatGofar was acting drunk, but managed to take a quick escape once somebody reacted to him violating her.

Supports for the victims are flooding in. Arian Arifin, one of the cofounders of Lawless Jakarta, tweeted, “I stand with the victims.” This was followed with an official announcement from Lawless Jakarta that they acknowledge the case, and they stand with the victims. The company also announced that Gofar Hilman is no longer a part of it.

Lawless Jakarta’s move was highly appreciated by the public even though it is rarely taken by a company of itssize. Today, the South Jakarta-based company heads several businesses, including Lawless Burgerbar, Lawless Garage and Lawless Store. 

However, a stream of distrust and victim-blaming keeps on coming as well. On top of that, victims who spoke up are treading on thin ice as Gofar has the capability to takelegal action. To this date, pursuing justice for sexual violence victims through legal process is ineffective as regulations on this issue do not provide proper protection for the victims. The ITE Law is also proven to put victims who speak up at further disadvantages just like what happened to Stella Monica who posted her complaints on L’VIORS Clinic to her private Instagram account.

LBH Apik opened the Gofar Hilman report centre via email aduankorban.gh@awaskbgo.id and Instagram @aduankorban.gh.