SINGAPORE, Oct 5 — With this year’s edition of the Singapore Writers Festival (SWF) set to shine the spotlight on Indonesia as its country of focus, one writer has been removed from the line-up following concerns raised by members of the Indonesian arts community.

After allegations of sexual abuse surfaced on Friday, and an open letter to festival organisers was published yesterday, the organisers have decided not to include poet Sitok Srengenge in the festival, which opens at the end of the month.

“After a careful review of the concerns raised, and discussing the matter with the writer and our programming partner (The Arts House), the Singapore Writers Festival has withdrawn Sitok Srengenge from its programme,” festival director Yeow Kai Chai told TODAY.

Several tweets last week had highlighted the matter to the organisers. In response, the SWF tweeted on Friday that it would take the feedback seriously.

The buzz on social media was followed by an open letter signed by 133 individuals and 19 organisations comprising “scholars, professors, students, activists, poets, authors and people from various reputable cultural and social communities” in Indonesia.

The letter said Srengenge has been named a suspect in a rape incident that occurred in 2013.

The letter also stated: “Three young women have gone on the record and reported the sexual abuse they suffered to the police. The case is now still in progress pending to court.”

Last year, a petition signed by more than 2,400 people urged police in Jakarta to charge the poet, who had allegedly raped a University of Indonesia student. He has since been charged with indecent conduct, crimes against decency and obscenity.

Earlier this year, women’s rights activists also protested an art event that was scheduled to feature Srengenge, leading to the cancellation of his performance.

The inclusion of the poet would “jeopardise” the festival’s values of “human rights, justice and equality of the sexes within literature”, stated the open letter.

“Literature is an instrument to voice (women’s) struggle and also a way to educate the society. Hence, we implore you to withdraw (his) name from the programme as a gesture of solidarity to a movement of eradicating banality of sexual violence in Indonesia.”

The SWF’s Indonesian focus comprises a series of events curated by The Arts House, with support from established poet and writer Goenawan Mohamad.

Srengenge’s event has since been removed from the festival’s website. He was scheduled to have a poetry talk on Oct 31.

According to the bio on the website, which was also taken down, Srengenge has published novels and essay collections and is active in theatre as an actor, director, critic and playwright.

Based in Yogyakarta, he also manages a publishing house and an independent arts space called Senthong Seni Srengenge.

Incidentally, one of the events under the Indonesian focus is a talk featuring feminist writer and activist Ayu Utami, which will discuss feminism in Indonesian literature. — TODAY