Indonesia has very different social norms to some other countries when it comes to commenting on somebody’s physical appearance. Hearing something like “Oh, you’ve gotten fatter” when meeting a friend after a long time isn’t that unusual here and it’s possible the person making the comment meant no offense.
But for people on the receiving end of such comments, they can hurt, no matter the intention.
Whether fat shaming can truly be blamed in any way for the horrific murder of a family of three in North Sumatra earlier this month is unclear, but, according to police, the killings were directly motivated by comments members of the family made about the main suspect’s weight.
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“The motive is hurt, because he is often ridiculed. The perpetrator was hurt because the victims made fun of his physical appearance, they’d say things like, ‘oh a group of elephants has arrived.’ Because the perpetrator’s body is rather fat,” said North Sumatra Police Chief Inspector General Agus Andriyanto said as quoted by Detik.
The main suspect in the case is the family’s neighbor, Agus Hariadi. Police arrested him along with three other men suspected of being Agus’ accomplices in the killings.
The four are accused of murdering a 49-year-old man named Muhajir, his 50-year-old wife Suniati and their 12-year-old son M. Solihin.
Police said that their interrogations with Agus had revealed that the crime had been planned two days prior to when the murders took place on October 9.
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According to the police chronology, the perpetrators came to the victims’ house at around 11pm that night with the pretense that they wanted to borrow money. When they entered the victim’s house, Agus immediately hit Muhajir head with a stone.
They then tied up all three family members and took them to a nearby river. Police said M Solihin had already been killed before they tossed his body into the river but Muhajir and Suniati were still alive, tied up and mouths gagged, when they were thrown into the water.
The bodies were later recovered from the river. Police also secured evidence including cell phones and a rental car that was used to carry and dispose of the victims.
The four suspects have been charged with premeditated murder and could potentially face the death penalty.
