By Lee Hyo-sik
Garuda Indonesia, the Southeast Asian country’s flagship carrier, is accused of sexually harassing a group of Korean women seeking to become a crew member for the airline during a physical exam last month.
According to the airline industry sources, Wednesday, Garuda Indonesia posted a job opening for flight attendants in June. The company planned to hire 18 Korean crew members but hundreds of women applied to work as a stewardess.
The airline conducted physical and medical exams in July for those who passed the written-test screening and preliminary interview.
During the examination, female candidates were asked to remove their clothes, except for their underclothes and to lie down on a table. A middle-aged Indonesian male doctor came into the exam room and allegedly touched the women’s chest and other parts to check whether they had breast implants and other artificial objects in their body.
“When the candidates were on an examination table, their body was covered with a blanket. The company obtained consent prior to such a physical checkup. The Indonesian doctor did not “touch,” but just “tap” the women’s chest only to make sure they did not have a breast enlargement surgery,” said Park Seung-hyun, a director of a PR agency representing Garuda Indonesia. Park refused to reveal the name of his company.
He said there were also female Garuda employees present at the time of the controversial physical exam, stressing that no female job applicants were sexually harassed.
“Some media outlets exaggerated what happened to damage the reputation of the Indonesian airline. We are preparing to file a libel suit against those who misinformed the public,” Park said.
Domestic airline firms expressed concerns over Garuda Indonesia’s hiring procedure. “It makes no sense that a male doctor is involved in the physical examination of female job candidates. It is just unthinkable for something like that to happen in my company,” said a spokesman for one of the domestic airlines.
He said female stewardess potentials are always examined by female doctors at a designated medical facility, adding the examinees wear a gown throughout the entire process.
Women’s rights groups are outraged by the news, saying they will consider boycotting the Indonesian airline.
“The incident constitutes sexual harassment. It is just outrageous that young women had their chest touched by a middle-age man. There are many other ways to check whether the patient had breast implants or not,” said Baek Su-min, coordinator of the Korean Women’s Association United.
Baek said her organization has begun consulting with other groups about how to respond to the incident. “We will seriously consider launching a boycott campaign against Garuda Indonesia. We may also pay a protest visit to the airline’s headquarters.”