“Asa” Film Discussion Opens the 2021 Healthy Campus Week Event

Yogyakarta, July 12th 2021─The Faculty of Social and Political Science (Fisipol) UGM is back with Healthy Campus Week (HCW) 2021. This time, Fisipol Crisis Center collaborates with non-governmental organization Rifka Annisa to open the HCW with a discussion called “Threading Hope (ASA): Help for Sexual Violence Survivor”.

The talk about the right steps to handle a sexual violence case was opened  by a short film review created by Rifka Annisa. The 21 minute long movie was inspired by real life events with the goal that viewers can support the sexual violence survivor. Fisipol UGM Communication Studies lecturer, Irham Nur Anshari as one of the speaker in the discussion, said that the invitation to see sexual violence from the view of the victim is in line with FCC’s values. “One of the first value in the FCC guidebook is how we can use the victim’s perspective or how we handle the event with a victim-centered approach.” Irham said. 

Irham talked about a couple of his notes regarding the “Asa” movie. First, the importance of support from family and other people for the survivor. “We can’t see the victim as a stupid and incapable person forever,” Irham said. He added that the support from family and people closest to the survivor can help the survivor in taking the next steps in their life. Second, to educate society about the importance of verbal consent before engaging in a sexual relationship. Third, be wary of couples who take videos of their sexual intercourse because those videos might be posted on the internet which warrants a legal punishment. Those notes inspired Irham to offer several solutions which are to strengthen education about gender equality in Indonesia. Other than that, Irham also underlined the importance of digital literacy for our society. “The solution is not to ban social media for everyone, but to filter messages and people that use social media”, he added. 

In line with Irham, the second speaker who works as the Division Manager of Assistance in Rifka Annisa, Indiah Wahyu Andari, said that the “Asa” movie wants to show how family should respond to children that is a survivor of sexual assault. “A false response from the family may make victims more depressed,” Indiah said. She added that the assistance program done by Rifka Annisa does not only apply to survivors but also for families. Other than that, education towards the society needs to be done so that every actor can make a right and supportive response towards the survivors.  

Awareness towards sexual violence needs to be raised. That is why Fisipol UGM alongside FCC created a channel to report sexual violence for students and staff of FISIPOL through http://ugm.id/FormulirPengaduanFCC and FCC social media.