During this month, the issue of sexual crime against children in Indonesia went viral triggered by the tragedy of a 14-year-old girl who died from gang-rape by 14 men who are also partly under age. This had other cases popping up to the surface where children were the victims as well the perpetrators. Even Indonesian President Jokowi responded, “We all mourn this YY tragedy,” he wrote via his Twitter account on May 4. He urged that the case immediately be investigated and brought to justice. “Catch and punish severely. Women and children must be protected from violence,” he wrote.

Comment:

It’s time for us to recognize that there are serious problems plaguing the mentality of our society, more particularly our children, our youth. Who is most responsible and what is the main cause? Is it true that the solution is only to improve the punishments on the perpetrators? Not this time can we just blame the perpetrators, as the majority of them are also children of our own; we have to realize the root of this problem is much more fundamental. There is a serious problem in our value system, the values of life that build our society. Not just the legal system. It’s not!

Sexualization values that swept the youth, supported by the entertainment industry and the media are massively damaging our children, both boys and girls! This outbreak clearly has made our little girls as sexual objects and commodities, and slowly but surely has changed the mentality of our little boys to become sexual predators.

These sexualization values continue to permeate our youth, encourage them to have perspectives that ‘cheapen’ the relationship of men and women only to pursue their selfish carnal desires. These liberal values continue to erode the mental responsibility in our society in view of the relationship between men and women. This is a portrait of a sick community, which is really the rotten fruit from the implementation of secularism and capitalism in the Muslim lands. Indeed, the secular capitalist ideology has disseminated this plague from the West to the East and systematically paralyzed the vitality of our youth and our community. The symptom of “having economic progress but suffering from a detriment civilization” in western developed countries is also increasingly perceived by Muslim countries. Inevitably, rapid development is often accompanied by a social crisis, the loss of youth achievement and productivity, widespread criminality of children, as well as the outbreak of violence against women and children.

Capitalism with the promotion of its secular values have led our children to the gates of perdition. Our children who are supposed to be the future generation, have destroyed their own future for being the perpetrators and victims of petty crimes. True to the words of Imam al Ghazali: “… if the child is habituated to evil and neglected, he will turn out to be unfortunate and fall to destruction, and his sin will be shared by those responsible for his upbringing.”

The rulers of Indonesia and other Muslim countries must realize that the only healing potion for this plague is ISLAM. The golden history of the Islamic civilization remarkably provided security for the honor of the children of Islam as the future generation. The Islamic legal system, social and its economic politics maintain and ensure the growth of the golden generation of Islam as a powerful, productive and devoted generation. Islam rejects the cheap liberal values which sexualized the society, rather Islam continues to promote a noble perspective in its unique viewpoint at the relationship between men and women. Islam will focus on fostering boys as potential leaders, to become protectors of women with a deep mentality of responsibility in the future, at the same time Islam will hold and uplift women with honor and protection with a comprehensive Shari’ah implementation. It is the return of Islam as an integrated system – the only true solution as well as the shield for tens of millions children in the world, as the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said,

«الإِسْلامُ يَعْلُو وَلا يُعْلَى عَلَيْهِ»

“Islam is the highest and nothing higher than it.” (Narrated by Daruqutni)

Fika Komara

Member of Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir