The public exposure of a steward and stewardess caught having an affair by the former’s spouse has unleashed nationwide pelakor shaming and given online busybodies something to be obsessed about after videos of the pair getting busted circulated widely in Indonesia.
Anyone familiar with the Indonesian side of social media might have noticed that there’s a penchant for juicy pelakor stories here. Pelakor, an Indonesian portmanteau for perebut laki orang, means a woman who steals another woman’s man — though let’s not forget that it takes two to tango.
This week, a pregnant air hostess affiliated with Lion Air named Sinta Rizki Dewi Arfiani posted a series of Instagram stories showing how she, her family members, and a number of security officers, caught her husband, identified by his initials AA, in the company of a fellow stewardess identified as PB, in the middle of the night. According to reports, AA and PB were in the home he shared with Sinta.
These clips have since been recorded, reposted, and shared on major media platforms popular among Indonesians, including the popular Instagram gossip account Lambe Turah (mind you, there’s a lot of shouting):
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The videos show how AA initially hid PB inside a room, and even shielded her from Sinta and everyone else.
“Get away from there,” Sinta warned AA, “I want to see the face of his jablay (whore).”
AA didn’t take too kindly to Sinta’s remarks, which only made her angrier.
“I can’t help but wonder, as if there’s no other [single] man,” Sinta asked loudly.
At one point, Sinta mentioned that their youngest child was having a fever, explaining that she had even asked AA to come home quickly the night before. It was then revealed that he had met up with PB instead. Unsurprisingly, the ruckus caught the attention of the neighbors, and several of them eventually gathered into the house.
The incident became so viral that the hashtag #selingkuh (#affair) became one of the top trending topics in Indonesia yesterday. In true Indonesian fashion, netizens have offered their hot takes on the matter, with the majority of them siding with Sinta.
As long as there’s still a bond as husband and wife, she can report them for adultery so the two of them can be imprisoned… for the wife, you’re great [because] you didn’t cry when you caught your husband in the act.
No matter how pretty the wife is, or how smart and kind she is. If the husband likes to have affairs, that’s when it gets difficult… [I think] the lawful wife is prettier.
The husband’s face looks like he didn’t feel any remorse at all… Be patient, Mbak.
Others had humorous, or rather sadistic, takes on the pressing matter of pelakor.
You should use black magic, Mbak, and make your husband the human sacrifice. That way [he] will be at least useful for the family’s finances.
Knowing this, you should’ve sacrificed [your husband] on [Eid al-Adha].
Sinta has since updated the kepo (nosy) netizens, saying that Lion Air has terminated both AA and PB’s contracts. She initially wanted to file a police report against them both, but ended up scrapping the plan after they lost their jobs. At the time of writing, the budget airline has yet to publish a statement regarding the matter.
While we can only imagine that catching your significant other having an affair behind your back would hurt as hell, we can’t help but wonder if it’s really worth the trouble of airing such private matters to the world. However, we’re among the least surprised by this as Indonesian netizens are infamous for passionately hating pelakor — to the point that they flooded a Korean actress with hate comments just last year for playing a character who stole somebody’s husband.
