Sitok Srengenge Third Victim Breaks Silence

Another young woman has said that she was sexually abused by noted poet Sitok Srengenge. The student was the third to come forward in less than one month.

The first victim, who was also a university student, reported Sitok to the Jakarta Police for raping her. A second victim then said that Sitok had tried to rape her but failed. She also said she was willing to provide written testimony to corroborate the first victim’s claims.

Lecturer Saras Dewi, who is counseling the victims in an official capacity, said that the case of the third victim was similar to that of the first one.

Sitok, she said, used his status as a famous poet to invite the third victim to his boarding house and then manipulated her into having sex with him.

“The third victim loves poems, especially the ones created by SS [Sitok]. She wanted to learn on how to write poems. She was happy when she could finally meet SS,” Saras told The Jakarta Post Monday.

“Sitok then asked her to come to his boarding house, and there gave her alcoholic drinks and had sex with her without her consent. The victim was very traumatized by the incident but Sitok kept on calling her for more sex and this stressed the victim even more,” she added.

Saras said that the third victim had agreed to testify against Sitok to support the first victim.

“She [the third victim] knows exactly what the first victim has gone through and decided to testify,” Saras said while adding that the third victim had recorded all her written conversations with Sitok, which show just how the poet tried to intimidate her for more sex.

Sitok, a renowned poet within the Salihara art community, had previously admitted that he had sex with the first victim but claimed that it was consensual. He also said that he was willing to take full responsibility for what he done to the first victim, who is now seven-months pregnant. [Source : The Jakarta Post]