Sarah Azhari, Femmy Permatasari, Rachel Maryam and Shanty are Indonesian actresses and models.
They have all rose in prominence in the entertainment industry, and that Rachel was even a member of the House of Representatives of Republic of Indonesia for three consecutive terms.
But before pretty much everything, a scandal literally united them as victims of a voyeurism that went viral throughout the nation and beyond.
In 1997, these women were still young and new to the entertainment industry.
Sarah Azhari was 20 years old, and was already a model who debuted three years earlier. Femmy, 21 years old at the time, also debuted three years earlier, but as a soap opera star. Shanty, was an MTV Video Jockey, and was only 19. And Rachel, who dropped out of college to pursue her dreams in modelling, was even younger, at 18 years of age.
At that time, the four young, future-famous women, were involved in a scandal where they were secretly filmed while changing clothes in a bathroom during a casting session by a production house.
The video went viral before the internet was common in Indonesia.
It was sold in VCD stalls as copies, and traded hands
And when it became common, people began uploading it to the web, sharing links through web forums and emails.
In the video, the women were secretly recorded by men who apparently hid at the ventilation shaft of the bathroom, behind a one-way glass.
The women were casted for a soap commercial, and to do so, they were told to change their clothes inside a blue-tiled bathroom.
And when they did, the men recorded everything.
From the video, which is more than a half an hour long, these women were recorded while they undress, urinate at a squat toilet, to full frontal nudity.
The case was first reported in 1997, and went to trial in 2003.
The four actresses and the men who filmed the video, Slamet Ardi Agung, Priadi Arifin, and Darryl R. Togas, were charged with indecency and pornography-related offenses.
The two defendants are jointly accused with Slamet Ardi Agung Priadi Arifin and Darryl R. Togas were tried separately of spreading vulgar poses of the women.
In total, the defendants not only took naked and semi-naked pictures of nine advertising stars.
Not only that, because the defendants were also accused for profiting when they distributed the video via VCD, which according to the prosecutor, helped spread the explicit scenes spread to the online community.
Arifin's case was the first to be tried, starting only in late May 2003.
The progress of this case can be described as slow, from the police investigation to the court proceedings.
The sluggishness of the trial was said to be caused by the victims' refusal to testify in court, unlike when they collectively reported the incident to the police.
Most likely, the nine victims felt embarrassed to reveal their shame openly in court, and this prevented the prosecutor from presenting all victim witnesses.
The scandal was a major news story in Indonesia at the time and sparked a national debate about morality and decency in the entertainment industry
The video caused a lot of controversy and legal issues for the actresses and the perpetrators.
The actresses demanded severe punishment for the violators of their privacy and dignity.
However, the laws at that time only provided mild sanctions for the crimes of pornography and obscenity.
This is why the men were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 3 to 12 months.
The South Jakarta District Court sentenced Benny Gunardi Ginting, the person who brought the women for casting, to 9 months in prison. Before this, Budi Han, the owner of the studio where the casting took place, was sentenced to one year.
The scandal had a lasting impact on the public perception of privacy in the digital age and raised discussions about the legal consequences for those involved in the unauthorized dissemination of explicit content.
It also highlighted the need for stronger privacy protection measures and the challenges posed by the rapid advancement of technology in the early 2000s.
This is why the case was one of the few major cases that managed to highlight the importance of a stronger anti-pornography law in Indonesia.
The case was considered by many people as a case that influenced that helped the government creating the Undang-Undang Informasi dan Transaksi Elektronik, or UU ITE, which is an Indonesian law that regulates electronic information and transactions.
The law that was amended in 2016, aims to ensure that the use of technology and information is done in a way that respects the rights and freedoms of others, while also taking into account moral, religious, and security considerations.
It's worth noting that the video was not the first of its kind in Indonesia.
Previously, a few other women also fell as victims, and had been recorded partially naked and fully naked. But this video was considered the most damaging.
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