Experts urge high school students to end brawls<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Psychologist Tika Bisono and criminologist
\nErlangga Masdiana urged high school students on Saturday to start
\nformulating their own solutions to bring an end to the continual
\nstreet brawls in the capital.<\/p>\n
Tika and Erlangga, both from the University of Indonesia, told
\na group of high school students in a discussion organized by
\nLagam, a nongovernmental organization, that as students were
\nresponsible for the brawls, the causes should be addressed among
\nthemselves and if possible also settled among by students.<\/p>\n
The two reiterated that it was time now for the students to
\nrealize that their stay at high school level would not last long
\nand interventions from outsiders would only worsen their problems
\nas not all adults could understand the way youth think.<\/p>\n
Methods to control student brawls have been widely discussed
\nby many groups, including the government and police, but no
\nremedy has touched the real causes of the student violence.<\/p>\n
Many people blamed the education system itself, while others
\nhighlighted shortcomings of parents, individual schools, and
\nsociety.<\/p>\n
Tika said students themselves should be able to see the root
\nof the problem which caused them to feud on the street with their
\nfellow students.<\/p>\n
\"Is there anybody who knows why the problems are so crucial as
\nto be a matter of life or death?\" Tika asked the students.<\/p>\n
Tommy, a student at the seminar, answered that the cause was
\nlow self esteem and pressure from peers to participate in the
\nbrawls. He said he did not want to be called a coward by his
\nclassmates if he refused to help them attack students from other
\nschools.<\/p>\n
\"I have to defend my pride. I don't want to be called katrok
\nor sayur, which literally means a coward,\" the student from
\nstate-run vocational high school SMK 19 said.<\/p>\n
Tika suggested that students regard the calls merely as
\nchallenges to resist frustration and not be easily offended or
\nenraged.<\/p>\n
Erlangga said it was extremely sad to see students, who had no
\npersonal grievances with students from other schools, forced into
\nstreet brawls for the sake of solidarity with classmates.<\/p>\n
He said their time and energy would be much better spent on
\nother more useful activities.<\/p>\n
He suggested taking part in school extracurricular activities,
\nif available, and if not ask principals and teachers to organize
\nactivities after regular lesson hours.<\/p>\n
\"Demand useful activities and don't chase students from other
\nschools,\" Erlangga said.<\/p>\n
Diana, from the Jakarta Student Forum (FKPJ), also supported
\nthe two experts' comments, saying that all the causes of the
\nbrawls stemmed from the students themselves, so they should be
\nthe ones at the center of any resolution.<\/p>\n
\"Students who take part in street brawls do so because of
\nproblems either with themselves, their families or their
\nschools,\" Diana said, citing a recent survey by the student
\nforum.<\/p>\n
Catur, a student of state-run high school SMA 36, however, put
\npart of the blame on schools and teachers for not providing high-
\nquality education for students.<\/p>\n
He said that if teachers at his school stopped trying to make
\nextra money by, for example, selling clothes or shoes, and if the
\nprincipal requested better school facilities from the government,
\nthe students would remain at school to study rather than
\nwandering the streets.<\/p>\n
Col. Ahmad Hasan, chief of the city police public guidance
\nunit, who also spoke at the discussion, said 230 street brawls
\nwere recorded in 1998, with 15 fatalities and scores of students
\nand bystanders injured. So far this year, at least five students
\nhave been killed in 25 street brawls.<\/p>\n
\"Four of the victims were killed in February, when 18 vicious
\nstreet brawls among rival groups of students erupted,\" Ahmad
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The problem of street fights between students from rival
\nschools is not new for most Jakartans. These brutal after-school
\nactivities have been taking place for years. (emf)<\/p>",
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