World Of Secrets - Catching My Teacher: 2. The student detectives

Episode Date: September 28, 2026

Yusron gets the permission he needs to start chasing the truth. Information begins flooding into the student detective WhatsApp group they set up. Memories from the alumni that now take on new significance and information from students still at their boarding school. They need to make sense of it but who can they trust with their evidence?This series of World of Secrets contains references to sexual abuse.Listen to the Indonesian language version of the podcast here: https://www.bbc.com/indonesia/podcasts/p0btnmzxVoice actors: Prilly Latuconsina, Omara Esteghlal, Adelina Lece-Bere, Paul Agusta. Presenter: Rebecca Henschke Series producers: Endang Nurdin and Rebecca Henschke Sound recordings: Dwiki Marta Original music: Alffy Rev Sound design: Andy Fell Executive producer: Neil McCarthy Commissioning senior producers: Anne Dixey and Sarah Green Commissioning editor: Jon Manel

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Growing businesses deal with the same problem. Too many tools, too much back and forth and not enough time. Odu helps bring it all together. It's an all-in-one business management platform, fully integrated from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing, so your team can spend less time chasing information and focus on growth. Whether you're in retail, manufacturing or service,

Odo gives you one place to manage your business. Visit Odo.com to book a demo. It's ODbolo.com. Have you found yourself confessing personal things to chat GPT, Gemini or Claude? You're not alone. Something huge is underway that we haven't really found the words for yet. A new voice in our ear guiding what we think and feel and do. But should we trust it?

I just thought, what has this thing done to him? Black Box, the Chatbots, a new podcast series from The Guardian Investigates. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. Yusron can't sleep. He lies there in his college dorm in Jakarta. Zia's voice keeps coming back, not crying, just telling it straight. It's almost worse. He turns on the radio to hear something else.

It's a call-in program with a respected Islamic cleric. He takes questions about love, life and faith, and hands-out advice. So Yusran slips on his sandals and goes outside to buy phone credit from a street store and sends a text. I typed my name as Jihad. I'm really confused. I said I was a student from Tang Rang, not from Lomba. And I said that my teacher had sexually abused a student,

and I didn't know if I should report it or not. I asked, am I obliged to report this? Or should I stay silent out of respect because he's my teacher? Should I protect his reputation? And then he waits. I was getting frustrated

because they were talking about something else for ages even before getting to the audience questions. And then, whoa. I was shocked when it did happen. suddenly there it was he read out the message and before he even finished the second part of my message he immediately said

you must report it very clearly and he said the police would actually thank me for reporting it he didn't go into detail he just said very clearly it must be reported it's a permission he needs

to start chasing the truth. Sometimes the most unlikely people end up playing detective. This is World of Secrets. Season 13 from the BBC World Service. Catching my teacher. I'm Rebecca Henski. Episode 2, the student detectives.

After the shock, yeah, I was in shock for a few days. Really confused. I made the decision to find out as much as I could. Zia told me her friends Mahima and Wanda would speak up, support her. So when she said that, I said, let's make a WhatsApp group. He said we should try to collect evidence. Maybe Wanda has close friends at the boarding school she could speak to, Mahima too. The four of us should try and find out together who knows what. He said, there must be other victims. It couldn't just be me, there must be more.

We chose a name that wouldn't raise suspicion. We called the group Yayasan Peduli Amal, or the Charity Care Foundation. We didn't want to give away what we were doing. Within days, info begins flooding in, from students still at the school, and others who've left. Every day more information kept coming in. Yuzon was really motivated because there was always something new. Yeah, I've always been super interested in the world of detectives. And now there was this constant thought of what happens next.

But at the same time, it was overwhelming for me. It was intense. Exciting. That's what made it so compelling. It's one of Wonder Hamida's friends that recalls a girl crying in the bathroom of their boarding school. Late at night, saying she wanted to run away. She's still there at Abu Barakad. Her name is Sukmawati Rohana Fajar, or Sukma.

The journey to Lombok is 600 kilometres across the sea, from the island of Flores, home to the Komodo Dragons. Sukma is 12 years old, travelling with her father and her sister. They sent me away to Lombok, far from Flore. to study religion because there are lots of good schools in Lomborg. And I was very happy to go, even though it meant I will be far from my family. She's shy and watches people carefully. The school amongst the rice paddies and coconut groves isn't what she expected.

The buildings are nothing special, faded wooden walls, roofs made of thick, thatch and corrugated iron. It's not the grand place she'd imagined. My father told me not to mind the simple buildings because as long as I'm being a well-educated person. A man with a dark sarong tied around his waist and a white turban on his head stands in front of her. He has kind eyes.

Like everyone else, she'll come to call him Abba. My friends told me that you're so lucky to be received by Abba himself. And my father spoke to him and asked him to take a good care of his daughter and to educate her well. As for my mother, she told me that the most important thing was that I feel comfortable. And then she told me to tell her everything. That's what she said. Soon Sukma slips in to the steady, unchanging rhythm of school life. Before dawn, morning prayers.

And then she sits cross-legged with the other girls, their knees touching on the terrace of Abba's house, to listen to his teachings, repeating, echoing some of his words. Remember your connection with what you, want, your connection with what you aspire to, your connection with what you think, courage, courage. If you don't dare to begin, everything is difficult.

Sucma takes everything Abba teaches her seriously, everything. She does well, wins awards for her knowledge of the Quran, flourishes. One afternoon, when she's 15, she starts feeling faint in class. So the teacher asked a friend to walk her back to the dorm. On the way, they run into Abba.

He'll take care of her, he tells them, and lead Sukma into the kitchen. So there were stairs and I sat on the steps. And I was feverish. And Ava took some water and gave it to me. He said, here my child, drink this. and then suddenly he asked me to sit on his lap he didn't tell me to stand up

take this medicine come on my child sit here I was like I'm feeling ill I want to go to my room but he keeps saying it's alright it's alright just think of me as your father then I obeyed him and sat on his lap thinking, why is Abba being like this?

He stroked my hair under my headscarf and said, Don't cut your hair. It's beautiful. Abba then told me again, just think of me as your father here at school. Sukhmer doesn't really know what to make of this, but she buries it, decides not to tell her mom. Two years later, when she's home for the holidays, her mother gets sick. A week later, she dies. As she grieves, Abba and his wife, Umi, do begin to feel more like family.

With their house inside the girl's compound, they're always around. Abbe even gives her a nickname too, Flores, the island she's from. Flores, he calls from the terrace of his house and calls her in for private mentoring, often. I went to my home teacher and asked him, why was I called by Abba so often? And he said,

it means you are blessed. I ask again, but he keeps on saying like, it's all right, it's all right. Just do what he. he asked of you. After a while, I just kept quiet and I have no one else to turn to it. For years, whenever Abba summons her, she goes. When she's 17, Abba calls her for special prayers to welcome the new year.

She needs to come alone, late. Umi and the children are away. So once more, Sukma turns to her year teacher. This time he was silent for a few seconds and said, Sugma, when you were summoned by Abba, just tell him, Abba, please repent. I didn't understand what he meant. He said to say to him, please repent,

but I have to obey his summons and go. He told me if I didn't obey him, then I would lose all my blessings that. I was about to receive. So I went back to my room. I told my friends that if I run away tonight, please, please don't look for me and don't tell anyone. Then I prepare myself.

It's a short walk and a familiar one along the path to Abba's house from the girl's dorm. But tonight it's unusually dark. The lights are off. And strangely, there's no evening security patrol. I walk in, he came in behind me. He locked the door and hid the keys. I stayed quiet because I thought maybe, just maybe,

all he really wanted to do was share with me some prayers or advice. Then he said, come here, child, sit down. So I sat down, Abba was sitting in front of me, then he asked, Child, do you want to be my second wife? I immediately moved back and I said, Umi isn't here. I'm scared. You are my teacher.

Please don't do this to me. Please, please don't do this to me. I come from far away. Abba, you shouldn't act like this. But he said, don't think like that child don't scream loudly or people will hear you then he asked me to take of my hijab

I started crying and he just he removed himself I kept saying Abba why are you doing this to me I'm scared but he continued after taking off my hijab

he asked why I had cut my hair he said didn't I tell you not to cut it your hair was beautiful then he asked to kiss me I refuse I said but I don't want this I don't want any of this I kept crying and crying and begging him to stop then he threw my hijab onto the floor he told me to take off my clothes I said no My mind was spinning and I can't think straight. I was in shock. I kept asking, why are you doing this to me, Papa? He said, do you want people to hear?

Do you want the boarding school destroyed? Huh? Do you want me to go to jail? Then he told me to lie down. I felt exhausted. My hands were being held and my mouth was covered so I couldn't scream. Then he stood in front of me naked from the way he's done. I didn't.

I didn't want to lick with him. I just closed my eyes the whole time. He kept talking saying he couldn't control himself anymore. I felt so powerless. I can't just be able to be around, he can't be run. Was I wrong? I wasn't wrong, was I? I'm not a son-

Like, I was dirty In my mind I kept thinking about my mother I was begging, Please, mom, please, Don't let this happen to me, please help me Y'all, help me You all help me

I want to help me I'm, I'm going to help I'm not to I'm not going to ruin. Maybe because I do a... Maybe, she thinks, it was because of these prayers

that before he rapes her, she gets the strength to kick him, hard in the stomach. He hits the wall. He gets up and goes into the kitchen. And for a moment, Sukma is alone. She scans the room looking for the key. And when she finds it,

move slowly towards the door, barefoot, trying not to make a sound. Outside, she runs, then glances back, a torchlight. It's Abba. She needs to hide. I run into the toilet and there was a girl there. I couldn't. I just couldn't tell her what just happened. But I told her I want to run away. She asked me why. Outside, they hear Abba.

Sukma freezes. She hears him asking someone why they're up so late. That student was Zia's friend, Wanda. She'd fallen asleep in the mosque with her friend, the one who was in the toilet when Sukma rushed in. At first she feared Sukma was a ghost, and then she thought she was just homesick. It's only now that these memories take on new significance, Sukma saying she wanted to leave over and over. and wonder recalling Abba being red-faced, sweating and out of breath. Bekeringat, mucan, and the napasas also terengh-enah, like people lehleh, man-lechard something. In the morning, when my best friend saw me,

they saw my face bloated from crying all night. Then they saw the marks all around my neck, and they asked me what happened. I told them Abba did it to me. They hug her, tell her to stay strong. But this will stay inside the girl's dorm, shared in whispers, until someone starts asking questions, until Eustron and the student detectives call. Growing businesses deal with the same problem, too many tools, too much back and forth and not enough time.

Odu helps bring it all together. It's an all-in-one business management platform, fully integrated from sales and accounting, to inventory and marketing, so your team can spend less time chasing information and focus on growth. Whether you're in retail, manufacturing or service, Odu gives you one place to manage your business. Visit Odo.com to book a demo. It's O'Dbolo.com. Have you found yourself confessing personal things to chat GPT, Gemini or Claude? You're not alone. Something huge is underway that we haven't really found the words for yet. a new voice in our ear

guiding what we think and feel and do but should we trust it? I just thought what has this thing done to him? Black Box, the Chatbots, a new podcast series from The Guardian Investigates. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. After my lectures, I would call people one by one, usually in the afternoon, after class or Quran sessions.

I'd go to a place where I would definitely be left alone. There was this spot upstairs in my dorm that no one usually went to. I'd go there often to make the calls. I always had my black notebook with me. Soon his black book is filled with first-hand testimony, second-hand memories. Some people recall things differently.

Others tell him things, but don't want it repeat it. Yusron tries to make sense of it all. I wrote everything down in it, like where people got information from, what date, what they heard. I wrote it all down. because whenever I asked people for advice, they said, make sure everything is verified.

Don't get trapped or set up. Don't let this come back to you. So I try to document everything. And then he types it up, a seven-page document with photos of Zia, Sukma, and three other female students, their names and the details of their cases. and on the first page, Abba, the alleged perpetrator. It was really shocking, and honestly, it felt really cruel when I realized I wasn't alone.

I used to be able to focus, study, think clearly. But after that, I just couldn't concentrate anymore. My thought wouldn't settle. It was really hard to control my own mind because of everything that was happening. I kept thinking about the others too, how they were feeling, what their mental state was, how this would all end. It's May 18, 2023, in Cairo. Zia and her friends Mahima Eka and Wanda are sitting cross-legged on one end of a large carpet. Cups of tea, bags of crisps, grapes and bananas laid out in the middle.

On the opposite side are two men from Natal Watan Dinya Islamia, NWDI, the organisation that runs their school and hundreds of others. One of them is the nephew of the group's leader, a politically powerful man. It's the organisation that educated them, that helped them come to Egypt, people they can trust.

So before they go any further, they feel they owe it to them to tell them what they've uncovered. The men tell them not to film. But before anyone notices, they capture a few seconds on their phone. Evidence, the meeting did happen. We told them everything. What had happened and all of that, they were like, so what do you want to do?

Do you want to take this to the police or settle it peacefully? with some kind of sanction and then close it, we said we wanted to take it to the police. Because there were already too many victims. We showed them. Look, the victims aren't just me. There are others. They said the decision in the end was up to us, the victims.

If we wanted to take it to the police, they were ready to help. They said they would provide supports from Indonesia like legal assistance. people to accompany us, support from the victim. Basically a lot of things. They promise all of that. So they share Yusron's seven-page document, the details from the black book with photos and names. I was feeling a bit ashamed that now these people knew what had happened to me.

But at the same time, I was super happy. Like, here, there are people, important people. willing to help us. There was hope. Important people who are going to help us. So I thought, this case will definitely be resolved. Abba will definitely get a fair punishment. As they walk out, Zia messages Yusron, updating him. It really felt like exactly what we had been looking for. It was as if this was the path that Allah approved of our actions. pleased with what we were doing and now Allah was showing us that this was the way we

should go this is the direction we should take their work is paying off justice is coming Yusron is sure of it Surnamu'llaikum Nanda ma'amaha you miss me my child alhambulililah my child I'm so sorry someone just came to my house and told me about your writing.

That's next time on World of Secrets. This has been episode two of five of season 13 of World of Secrets. Catch you, my teacher. From the BBC World Service. Sukma is voiced by Adelina Lechebere. Zia by Priili Latukon Sina. Use run by Omar Aesteglal. And Paul Augusta is Abah.

World of Secrets, Catching My Teacher, is written and produced by Rebecca Henski and me, Endang Nourdin, sound recordings by Duiki Marta, the sound design and mix is by Andy Fell, original music by Alfiref, and the executive producer is Neil McCarthy. It was a BBCI investigation for the BBC World Service. Thanks for listening, thank you, Souda, Souda, we would really like us, many people as possible to hear our investigations. So please do share and tell people about it. And if you haven't already, follow or subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Have you found yourself confessing personal things to chat GPT, Gemini or Claude? You're not

alone. Something huge is underway that we haven't really found the words for yet. A new voice in our ear, guiding what we think and feel and do. But should we trust it? I just thought, what has this thing done to him? Black Box, the Chatbots, a new podcast series from The Guardian Investigates. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.