Nobody deserves to be physically assaulted for whatever reasons. But when a domestic violence involves a famous celebrity caught the public attention, the case may as well become public attention, worth the public's affection.
Lesti Kejora is an Indonesian singer, actress, and television personality of Sundanese origin. She gained her early fame when she won D'Academy, an Indonesian talent show for dangdut music, which is a genre of Indonesian folk that is partly derived and fused from Hindustani, Arabic music and Malay and local folk music.
Since then, she picked up even more fame following popularizing dangdut throughout music fandom in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.
As a megastar, she's already influential on her own.
But her popularity increased significantly after she filed a domestic violence complaint against her husband, actor Rizky Billar.
However, in an unexpected plot twist, Lesti, after having visited Rizky in detention at the South Jakarta Police, decided to retract her complaint against him, her lawyer Philipus Sitepu confirmed.
The couple, known among their fans as “Leslar", boasts around 40 million followers on Instagram.
Based on the police report, the abuse started when Rizky Billar was furious when Lesti confronted Rizky for an alleged infidelity.
At that time, Lesti got emotional that she requested him to be sent home to her parents.
This incident occurred at their residence in South Jakarta on 28 September 2022.
The provoked Rizky allegedly pushed Lesti to the bed, to then strangled her neck until she fell to the floor. Rizky also pulled Lesti's hand towards the bathroom and threw her to the floor.
As a result of this, Lesti's right hand, neck and body were injured.
Days later, Lesti was pictured wearing a neck brace in hospital.
"The reported (Rizky) tried to push the victim (Lesti) and threw her to the bed, then strangled her neck until she fell to the floor. At another time, the husband tried to pull and threw the victim to the bathroom floor. These were done repeatedly," said the Head of the Public Relations Department of Jakarta Metropolitan Police, Endra Zulpan to the reporters.
The case further sparked the public's fury after a leaked CCTV footage showed a separate incident in which Rizky attempted to throw a billiard ball to Lesti.
Fortunately for Lesti, he missed his throw because he fell right before he hurled the ball.
But according to Adek Erfil, the attorney for Rizky Billar, the two indeed had a quarrel. But when Rizky was having a shower to calm himself, he mistakenly pulled Lesti by her necklace, which made her fell.
This was when the two fought again, and Rizky renounce the marriage through talaq, the Islamic way of judicial divorce.
However, after his anger resides, the two had makeup sex.
As soon as the police received the complaint, Rizky was placed in police detention.
Regarding domestic violence, the Indonesian government has issued Law Number 23 of 2004, in which domestic violence cases in the form of physical violence or acts that result in pain, falling ill, or serious injury, the threat of a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The netizens of Indonesia and many abroad, started showing their support for Lesti.
Millions of Lesti's followers followed the case, and so do fans of Rizky.
The case caught public attention because their marriage age is only one year old, and that they frequently show harmony on social media, especially when the first son was born in December 2021.
Many expected Lesti to divorce Rizky, considering that allegedly, it was Lesti who made Rizky famous after marrying her.
But when Lesti retracted the complaint, everyone was confused.
The public was shocked to only realize that Lesti decided to forgive her husband which led to his release from jail, not even a month after the initial reporting.
"InsyaAllah, I and my family forgive my husband, and hope he can change. We trust his promise that he will never do it again as it was written into the agreement. He also apologized to my parents and they forgive him," said Lesti.
"Alhamdulillah, he has also admitted to his actions and apologized to me and my family, especially my father."
The main reason is for the good of their son, Muhammad Leslar Al Fatih.
She said that no matter what, Rizky is the father of her son.
She hoped that by this incident, things are for the better.
But the case that became anti-climax simply turned many of Lesti's supporters into haters.
Some alleged that the case was just a way for the couple to gain attention, and boost their popularity.
After all, Rizky in particular is known for his lavish lifestyle and spending habit.
In her defense, Philipus said Lesti was not pressured to drop the complaint.
"There were no external parties involved. This is purely the pair wanting to achieve peace together,” Philipus said.
Accompanied by her attorney Sandy Arifin and her father Endang Mulyana at the Polres Metro South Jakarta, she expressed her gratitude to the police for processing her report.
When Lesti filed the complaint, it is said that Rizky has the inability to protect her, not only from injuries, but also from ever saying rude things.
And hitting his wife and hurting her physically, is a disgraceful act that must be dealt with firmly, because it violates the law and norms.
According to Jakarta Metro Police spokesman Endra Zulpan, Rizky was placed under detention for 20 days based on Lesti’s original complaint. With Lesti's retraction of her complaint, Rizky's lawyer argue that the two should reconcile on their own.
The domestic violence case experienced by Lesti had indeed attracted public attention at the end of September 2022.
In October 18, the two are allowed to return to their residence. But in the meantime, Lesti stays at her parents' home, awaiting restorative justice.
This is to make Rizky to admit his mistakes and take responsibility for his actions, and to make him understand the harm he caused, and also to make his redeem himself so he won't cause further harm.
It's worth noting that Lesti's marriage to Rizky was also laced with controversy after it was reported that they had already been married earlier in the year under a nikah siri arrangement, which is a marriage recognized by religion of Islam but not by the state.
They were faced with accusations of public deceit, with some saying that the couple should be reported to the police for trifling with the country’s marriage laws.
When the couple officially married, their wedding in 2021 was highly publicized and parts of the ceremony were broadcasted live on television.
Domestic violence cases, especially acts of violence against wives, whether sexual, psychological, or physical violence, can occur to anyone regardless of race, age, religion, social status, or level of education. This problem is that generally, it's difficult to detect and bring it to court because it is in the realm of privacy.
Lesti and Rizky's domestic violence case was a trending topic in Indonesia, that it sparked huge criticisms when fellow celebrity Baim Wong and his wife, Paula, made a prank YouTube video about their own made-up domestic violence.