The North Jakarta Police have arrested two Starbucks Indonesia employees for alleged sexual harassment, which include voyeurism.
The two employees were caught peeking at a female customer’s cleavage through a CCTV camera, in a Starbucks store in the neighborhood of Sunter in North Jakarta, Indonesia.
Jakarta Police spokesperson Yusri Yunus said the two arrestees, identified only by their initials K and D, have been apprehended.
“The police are now interrogating them to find out their motives,” he said.
Yusri also added that the police had also identified the woman, since one of the suspects actually personally recognized her.
“The suspect has her phone number. The victim just filed a report to the police.”
Liat instastory temen yg kerja di St*rb*cks kok serem banget sih anjg!
Gini ya emang kerjaan orang back office? Creepy banget woy takutt pic.twitter.com/EDUE1HbMey— Lisa (@LisaAbet) July 1, 2020
The incident caught public attention after a Twitter user @LisaAbet uploaded a video of the incident, with the post quickly went viral.
She tweeted that she was angered upon watching the video she saw on her friend’s Instagram Story.
"I saw an Instagram Story of a friend who works at Starbucks, how scary is that! Is this what the back office employees do? This is so creepy, I’m scared," her tweet reads."
The footage showed a male employee of the coffee shop ogling and zooming in on CCTV recordings at the back office to get a clearer look on a female visitor’s cleavage. Another male employee who recorded the event through his phone was heard laughing inappropriately.
Many netizens were condemning the two employees for their reprehensible act.
They were called out for sexualizing the woman, as others highlighted the incident as an example of why women should find it unsafe to be in public places.
The incident angered many internet users that they were demanding immediate investigation from Starbucks, so the company can take firm action against the two men.
Some Twitter users however, were saddened by this case, saying that @LisaAbet should at least tell the person that uploaded the video in person. Doing otherwise could be troublesome for the employees amid the 'COVID-19' coronavirus pandemic which already made many people unemployed.
Mohon maaf atas peristiwa yang terjadi dan beredar di media sosial. Saat ini kami telah menginvestigasi dan menindak tegas karyawan yang bersangkutan. Sekali lagi kami mohon maaf dan kami akan memastikan agar kejadian ini tidak terulang kembali.
— Starbucks Indonesia (@SbuxIndonesia) July 1, 2020
— Starbucks Indonesia (@SbuxIndonesia) July 2, 2020
Head of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), Tulus Abadi, said that the sexual violation by the employees against one of the store’s customers is outright violation to consumers’ rights.
"This violates the consumer’s right to feel safe and secure that is guaranteed by Consumer’s Protection Law Article 4," he said.
Article 4 of Law No.8/1999 on consumer protection oversees and protects consumers’ rights, such as the right to feel safe and secure to consume a product or service.
Tulus deems any violations committed by the two employees are sanctionable by the law.
Starbucks responded to the incident by apologizing.
“We apologize for the incident that occurred and circulated on social media. We have investigated and taken firm action to the employees concerned. Once again we apologize and we will make sure that such an incident will not be repeated,” Starbucks Indonesia wrote in one of its replies, after saying that its management was investigating the incident and the employees..
Starbucks Indonesia spokesperson Andrea Siahaan said that the company had fired at least one of the two employees implicated in the incident.
“We can guarantee that the individual in question is no longer working for PT Sari Coffee Indonesia,” said Andrea in an email.
“We were extremely troubled to learn of this incident and it is a matter that we take seriously. It is not consistent with our mission and values, high standards of conduct or the experience we strive to deliver for our customers,” Starbucks added.
@LisaAbet also apologized in one of her following tweets, saying that she tweeted the incident impulsively, and never thought that her post would become viral. She also felt "guilty" for what she did, partly because the person is her friend.
Opening its first store in Jakarta back in 2002, Starbucks is already one of the most popular coffeehouses in Indonesia with more than 300 stores in major cities in the country.
Tapi saya jadi takut sendiri tadi, ngerasa guilty juga. Dia teman saya, saya juga mikirin dari tadi apa harus saya take down atau jangan, saya protect atau jangan. Serba salah jujur.
— Lisa (@LisaAbet) July 1, 2020