Musicians in the city of Tangerang, Banten have come together to publicly out a peer for sexual assault in a show of solidarity with his alleged victims.
The alleged rapist, an instrumental/noise musician identified by his initials BF, was first accused of the crime early this month, prompting Elang Terbang Kolektif, a musical collective in which BF was a part of, to cut off ties with him.
As many as eight alleged victims came forward to publicly accuse BF of rape in the coming weeks, triggering huge outrage against the musician on social media.
After quite a lengthy absence from the public eye, BF posted a video of himself owning to the accusations against him.
“I have committed rape and sexual assault to F, PW, REA, AZ, EP, CT, Y, dan P. I apologize to all victims and I am ready to take responsibilities with all the consequences desired by the victims,” he said.
“I also apologize to the music scene, especially the Tangerang scene, as well as the communities and places that have been harmed by my actions.”
Twitter user @sonuvabitjxh, who is active in the Tangerang music scene and whose Twitter thread about BF went viral, believes that the musician may have raped even more women.
“The number of victims is actually more than eight people. In addition to the ones that we have accompanied, the accused mentioned that he was unable to name and count the actual number of the victims. The accused completely forgot how many of his victims there were,” @sonuvabitjxh tweeted.
Two labels that previously published BF’s music, Tangerang-based Roaches Records and Jakarta-based Hantu Records, stated that they have removed his music from their platforms. In addition, the labels condemned BF showed support for the victims.
There are no reports yet of the accusations against BF being brought to the police. However, the huge social backlash against BF marks a welcome departure from the generally permissive attitude towards sexual crimes in Indonesia, including in the music industry.
By contrast, earlier this month, punk collective Ponti decided not to denounce a member who allegedly raped his then-underage former partner 19 years ago. The collective stood by the accused as he is “an old friend” and that the sex was supposedly consensual, even though the victim was 15 at the time.
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