Scores of parents protested in front of a state primary school (SD) in Medan Tuntungan regency, Medan City, on Wednesday December 23 demanding that the school principle resign because of allegations he is gay.
The parents, who are concerned that their children will be victims of sexual crimes, held up posters with messages such as "Protect our children, don't wait until there are victims".
One of the parents, Raiman, said that the issue first surfaced in April after was discussed on social media.
"The case has been going on for some time, four months ago it went viral on Facebook where his (the school principle's) relationship with his boyfriend were revealed", Raiman told journalists.
Then, after this, said Raiman, the village chief and the sub-district head began discussing the case. Raiman said that the school principle and his boyfriend even admitted to having a close relationship with each other. This admission was made directly to the students' parents.
"He admitted to having same sex relations with, he had relations several times but he said he had khilaf [made an unintentional mistake], he didn't want to be called homo, I'm a man. (Yeah) that's up to them. But for us, we're afraid, because on FB (Facebook), it said that he hadn't just done it once, but several times, with other men", said Raiman.
The other fear, said Raiman, was the school CCTV which was directed towards the school bathroom.
"So this is our fear, don't let our children (fall) victim. So all of us, we gathered the students' parents together, all of them, almost 300 people, and signed [a letter stating], we didn't want this", said Raiman.
"He said he would resign but to this day he hasn't resigned and has transferred. Yet his resignation letter was made on July 17", added Raiman.
Raiman said that their concerns culminated when it turned out that the principle, who is no longer a member of the teaching staff, still often cames to the school.
"He dares to [have relations] with adults, let alone children. Moreover he has come to the school several times, the teachers know and were introduced to him", said Raiman.
When sought for confirmation, the head of the Medan Education Office, Adlan, was reluctant to speak on the matter although they promised to follow up on the case.
"Thank you for the information, it will be followed up on", Adlan told , Kumparan.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Kepsek SD di Medan Dituding Gay, Orang Tua Demo Khawatir Anak Jadi Korban".]
