Young Couple In Bali Assaulted On Way Home From Date Night

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On the 10th May 2022 young couple Habib Ramadan, 22, and Lupita Sari, 25, were driving home after a date night. They were attacked by a mob of four young men as they were driving their moped across the Jalan Teuku Umar Barat junction in central Denpasar. The attack was unprovoked and resulted in both Ramadan and Sari being taken to hospital. 

Today the police in Bali has announced that they have arrested three of the attackers and charged them with assault. The three of the four attackers arrested have been named as Febrizal Dwi Orayogo, 26, Mohamad Dukuh Kailani, 26 and Tatak Riki Budayat, 26, who are all believed to be from the west side of Denpasar. 

Ramadan and Sari reported their assault to the police evening of the attack and it has taken police nearly three weeks to track them down. The attackers first spotted Ramadan and Sari as they were traveling down the one-way street Jalan Raya Kesambi, leading to the Jalan Teuku Umar Barat junction. The attackers were driving a Honda Jazz and report suggest that they drove aggressively behind Ramadan and Sari’s moped. 

Police reported how the attackers first started teasing Ramadan and Sari who chose to ignore their verbal taunts. When they stopped at the red lights at the Jalan Teuku Umar Barat junction the attackers started making offensive hand gestures towards the couple who continued to ignore the four young men. Out of nowhere the men jumped out of the car, ripped Habib Ramadan from the passenger seat of the bike, and beat him. 

Lupita Sari, who was driving, jumped off the moped and tried to come to her boyfriend’s aid, only to end up being beaten herself. The police have described how the attackers simply got back in their car and drove away after they felt they had finished their beating.

Ramadan and Sari were then helped by their friends to get to Sanglah Hospital to treat their wounds and to report the incident to West Denpasar Police. 

The Criminal Investigations Unit of Denpasar Police, led by Iptu Kevin Immanuel, apprehended Febrizal Dwi Orayogo and Tatak Riki Hidayat at a hotel in Kuta around 2 am on 26th May. Earlier in the day they were able to arrest Mohamad Dukuh Kailani at his home on West Denpasar. 

It is unclear the reasons why the arrestees decided to attack the young couple. There seems to be no clear motive. Ramadan and Sari are yet to release statements but it is clear that the police have taken this incident seriously and are pressing charges. It has not been announced what sentence they would be given should they be found guilty. 

This news comes in the same week as beloved Indonesian actress Jennifer Coppen was assaulted while trying to help a young woman who was being harassed by a group of men at a nightclub in Kuta. Coppen, who stars in hit Indonesian movies like Mecca, I’m Coming and the soap opera Story for Gerri was reported to have filed an assault claim with police in Bali.

Police in Indonesia do take assault seriously, in recent years there has been a nationwide conversation around improving legislation to protect women and children from violent assault. It was only in April 2022 that Indonesia passed a landmark bill that finally made forced marriage and sexual harassment illegal. The bill included physical and verbal assault, harassment, and exploitation.

Speaking on the day of the bill’s passing the director of a woman’s rights NGO in Jakarta told the press that ‘this is the beginning of a new civilization that we create together’. It is hoped that with these new laws in place all citizens in Indonesia will be a little safer from assault and harassment.