You may be aware of a recent scandal involving veteran Indonesian actor/spiritual guru Aa Gatot (real name Gatot Brajimusti), who was arrested last month for possession of narcotics. Since then, Aa Gatot’s reputation took a nosedive after the authorities found that he was also illegally in possession of firearms and endangered animals.
But those things only scratched the surface of Aa Gatot’s alleged wrongdoings, as later on a woman, identified in the media as CT, publicly accused him of tricking her into sex for four years under spiritual pretenses and promises to launch her music career.
It’s obviously a lawyer’s job to defend their client from any allegations, but what Aa Gatot’s lawyer, Muara Karta, said in defense of the disgraced actor is downright shocking.
“If there were four years [of rapes], how can there not be a chance [to report to the police then]? If it happened multiple times then it’s not called rape. Once is rape, but twice means she was asking for it,” he said, as quoted by Okezone today.
Furthermore, Muara claims that Aa Gatot couldn’t have raped CT as he had technically married her, though not in a way that’s recognized by the state. Muara said Aa Gatot married CT using the mutah method, which he said was done by Aa Gatot whispering “I’m marrying you” into CT’s ears.
“So it’s official that he wed his wife and he can bed her,” he said.
Muara also said that he threatened CT not to make any more accusations about Aa Gatot publicly or she would face getting sued for slander and violating the Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE).
Regardless of whether or not Aa Gatot actually raped CT, Muara Karta’s argument about what constitutes rape is exactly the kind of chauvinistic, patriarchal thinking that activists say leads to an indifferent attitude towards violence against women in Indonesia.
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