Original subtitles

This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting

and deals with Sexual Abuse, including first-hand testimony of sexual abuse.

Hello and welcome to Global Eye from the BBC World Service -

journalism that goes beyond the headlines,

investigations and stories of hope and resilience.

I'm Rebecca Hanschke. This week we're here in Indonesia.

Vast forest fires here are sending toxic clouds

of smoke across the region, affecting people's health,

threatening wildlife and contributing to climate change.

Also on the programme, the brave schoolgirl speaking out

about abuse at her Indonesian boarding school.

We go undercover to track down her teacher evading justice.

And how a small act of kindness is bringing comfort

to people uprooted by war in Lebanon.

Indonesia is no stranger to natural disasters,

volcanic eruptions and earthquakes,

but right now it's facing a very different disaster.

A man-made one.

Vast areas of land are burning

across Borneo,

Sumatra and Papua,

the smoke covering the region in a toxic haze,

spreading to neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore.

These fires happen every dry season when forests are slashed and burnt

to make way for farming land

and vast pulp and paper and palm oil plantations.

It's illegal for companies to clear land by burning,

and the Indonesian government is vowing

to hold companies found responsible accountable.

But Indonesians have heard similar promises before,

and every year, the fires and the toxic haze returns.

And this year, they're particularly bad.

One of the contributing factors is El Nino -

that has caused a hotter, longer dry season.

El Nino is a natural climate pattern that begins in the Pacific Ocean.

Normally, steady trade winds push warmer surface water west

towards Indonesia and Australia.

But during an El Nino year, these winds weaken,

allowing warmer water to spread eastward across the Pacific.

That changes weather patterns around the world,

and in Indonesia, it's meant a prolonged drought

that has created ideal conditions for fires.

Many of the fires are burning in peatlands -

wet, swampy ecosystems

that have built up over thousands of years.

The ground is made up of thick layers of dead plants and trees,

and it stores huge amounts of carbon.

But when it's cleared, drained and set on fire,

it releases all that carbon dioxide,

carbon monoxide and methane into the atmosphere.

A cocktail of greenhouse gases and toxic air pollutants

that's been called a carbon bomb, contributing to climate change.

For the communities living in the haze,

it's causing serious health problems,

particularly for children and older people.

And the fires are devastating for wildlife,

such as the critically endangered orang-utans,

whose forest home is already rapidly disappearing.

I'm pretty sure that this orang-utan just, uh, got hypoxia,

which is caused because of the smoke,

very thick smoke in the area and different fires

around the village

where we found him, when we rescue him.

And I'm pretty sure that it was just

that he just didn't get enough oxygen

and then fainted.

He was pretty unconscious,

just because he didn't get enough oxygen in the brain.

Firefighters are battling to put them out,

and the government has deployed the military to help.

Volunteers have also joined the fight -

many of them from the indigenous Dayak community.

They're facing a very difficult situation.

In the past, the only thing that's put them out is the arrival of rain.

Environmentalists say the failure to prevent this predictable

and reoccurring disaster is a failure of political will,

and are calling for better protection of Indonesia's peatlands,

the Earth's great carbon vault.

Like parents across the world,

many here in Indonesia save up to send their children

to boarding school in the hope of giving them the best education.

And as Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population,

they're mostly Islamic boarding schools known as pesantren.

For most, they're places of friendship,

faith and learning, but just like in the UK,

behind the gates of some of these boarding schools

is a much darker story -

cases of sexual abuse of students by their teachers.

Now, one former student bravely speaks out

and BBC Eye goes undercover to track down her teacher evading justice,

exposing the powerful institution protecting him.

This is Bechi, whose case shocked Indonesia.

Bechi was first reported to the police in 2018,

but the school - and his father who founded it -

are politically powerful, with thousands of loyal supporters.

This helped protect Bechi from arrest for years

while he made a series of public denials.

In 2022,

after years of organised resistance, he was finally detained.

He was put on trial for the rape of one student.

But the court found him

not guilty of rape,

only guilty of the lesser charge of sexual assault.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison.

But BBC Eye can now reveal

the allegations against him go much further.

Ira is speaking out publicly for the first time

about what she says happened to her.

Bechi has never been charged with crimes against Ira,

and now we understand he's been secretly released

after serving just three years of his seven-year sentence.

Nun Sayuti was once the school's lawyer.

Bechi had ordered him to make the rape allegations go away,

but when he started investigating,

he says he realised he was defending the wrong side.

Salam Alaikum.

To gather evidence, Nun secretly recorded Bechi boasting.

After she reported Bechi to the police,

Ira also faced a wave of intimidation and threats.

Fearing for her safety, Ira says she reluctantly agreed

to sign a statement retracting her allegations.

After signing, she says her father was given the equivalent

of around 4,000 USD by one of Bechi's family advisers.

A culture of power and intimidation

has hidden the scale of Bechi's alleged crimes.

The effort to expose this

has been led by another former student at Shiddiqiyyah - Ayu.

She collected testimonies from at least 11 women,

including Ira,

who say they were sexually assaulted or raped by Bechi.

She says some told her they were hand-picked

for rituals he held in a secluded forest.

Ayu says some of them were also sent for private meetings with Bechi.

Ayu says many of these students

were too scared to pursue their own legal cases.

But one did, ending in Bechi's conviction for sexual assault.

In that case, Ira did bravely testify as a witness,

but she has never had her own day in court.

Wearing secret cameras, BBC Eye undercover reporters

are trying to track down Bechi to get recorded proof

he's been let out of prison early.

We're heading to Bechi's family house for Eid -

the most important day in the Islamic year.

Hours pass...

...then a VIP car arrives.

And out of the front door steps a man in black in a mask.

It looks like that's Bechi, followed by his father in a wheelchair.

After prayers, our reporters risk entering the house...

...and reach a side room

where Bechi is blessing loyal followers.

Approaching on their knees like everyone else,

finally, they come face-to-face.

It's unmistakeably him.

Salam Alaikum.

Ira's got questions for Nun,

the school's former lawyer who switched sides.

Ira has rebuilt her life and now has a family of her own.

Her friend Ayu, who supported her and others

in their fight for justice, is going to study abroad.

They both refuse to be defined by this.

You can watch the full version of Catching My Teacher

on BBC iPlayer or the BBC World Service YouTube channel.

And you can also listen to the multi-part podcast

that tells the story of how the students turned detective

to uncover their teacher's abuse.

It's a story of friendship, love and who you can trust.

Search for World Of Secrets on BBC Sounds

or wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Here's some more World Service content

that made an impact this week.

BBC News Hindi investigated India's so-called "paper parties" -

political groups that receive millions of pounds in donations

but do minimal campaigning and field only a handful of candidates.

Are they being used as fronts for massive tax evasion?

Opposition parties are now calling for investigations.

And you can read our full investigation

on the BBC News website.

And as concerns over AI safety grow,

this week's Weekend programme on the World Service

spoke to researcher Joe Benton,

after he resigned from the AI company Anthropic,

saying the pace of change could be "catastrophic" to humanity.

Catch the full interview on BBC Sounds,

or wherever you get your podcasts.

While many of our stories focus on the challenges people face,

this next report is about how communities respond

in times of need.

For many families in Lebanon,

war has meant the loss of their homes

and the daunting task of rebuilding their lives.

Since the fighting intensified in 2024,

thousands have been displaced,

often depending on the support of volunteers and local communities.

Among them is one young Lebanese man and his family,

who founded Pillows of Hope,

an initiative aimed at bringing a measure of comfort

to those whose lives have been uprooted.

Thanks for joining me in Indonesia.

Global Eye will be back next week. Goodbye.