If you want to report a crime to the police, make sure you give an accurate testimony, Indonesia’s National Police said, after a man did the exact opposite in the name of pride as he sought justice for getting robbed.
A Bogor resident in his early 20s, who goes by the initials AR, reported to the East Jakarta Metro Police that he was abducted and robbed by members of a motorcycle gang while driving in the city on Sept. 6. AR told the police that he was tased and threatened with a sickle before he was held for three hours. The motorcycle gang eventually took his phone and money.
However, after their investigation, police concluded that AR did not have a run-in with a motorcycle gang at all.
Instead, AR was found to have been robbed by a sex worker that he hired. Police called him in over the weekend to record a public apology for wasting their time chasing false leads.
“What really happened was I was on MiChat with a woman and agreed on an open BO at [an apartment in Bekasi]. And then we had an argument over disagreements about our deal,” AR admitted in the video.
MiChat is a messaging app synonymous with sex work in Indonesia, while open BO is a slang term generally understood to mean a sex worker making themselves available for hire.
“And then the woman and her friends took my phone and money,” AR continued.
“I apologize profusely for the lie I told the National Police.”
East Jakarta Metro Police Deputy Chief Ahmad Fanani said AR submitted the fabricated report in order to save face among his friends, as he didn’t want them to think that he was unable to afford paying the sex worker IDR500K (US$35.17). He said he was also worried that his family, including his mother, would find out that he was going to pay for sex.
AR has been charged with providing false testimony in an official investigation, a crime punishable by up to 1 year in prison.
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