117 students arrested on graduation day

JAKARTA (JP): Laughter, tears and even brawls, which led to the arrest of 117 students, colored graduation day of senior high school students here yesterday.

One of the brawls occurred on Jl. Budi Utomo, in Sawah Besar, Central Jakarta, when students from four schools -- senior high school SMUN 1, technical senior high schools STM 1 and STM 5 and private technical high school STM PGRI 5 -- celebrated their graduation.

Sawah Besar Police Chief Maj. Iriawan said 98 students were arrested for stoning police officers who tried to disperse the brawling crowd on Jl. Budi Utomo.

Nineteen other students from two private technical senior high schools in Cawang, East Jakarta, were arrested and brought to City Police Headquarters for stoning each other.

City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said the students had disturbed public safety.

Iriawan said, "We confiscated sharp weapons, including two machetes, three knives, and several belts with bicycle cogwheels on the buckles, which were dumped by the students."

He said police seized two samurai swords from two of the arrested students, identified as Nanda and Yusman.

Police had been looking for Nanda, a second-grade student from one of the four schools, for several robberies in Central Jakarta, Iriawan said.

Witnesses said the brawl occurred when hundreds of students gathered in front of their schools, celebrating graduation by spray-painting their clothes and hair and sitting on top of their cars.

Teachers asked the students to go home, saying that the results of examinations would be mailed to their homes.

But students ignored the request, yelling and starting to fight with each other.

Police, who came to disperse the crowd, were stoned by students.

Some police motorcycles were also pushed down by students, a police officer said.

Another brawl erupted in Lebak Bulus between students from two private senior high schools.

Military and police officers managed to contain the brawl between students of the Triguna and Yayasan Pendidikan Mulia schools.

Witnesses said a few sustained minor injuries in the brawl, one of several brawls that have occurred this the year.

One student said he was forced to surrender his watch to a youth who, claiming to be from Triguna, pointed a knife at him.

Tears marked the graduation of SMUN 6, where nine students failed to graduate. In one of the classes three failed.

Their friends said they were surprised because those who failed were among the 10 highest-ranking students at the school.

The vice headmaster of SMU 6, Budi Prayitno, said the new curricula had affected student performance this year.

Graduation was announced simultaneously yesterday at 10:00 a.m. at all secondary schools across Jakarta, said the head of city office of secondary schools for the Ministry of Education and Culture, Abdul Rohim.

The amount of students who took the mandatory final examination was 135,312 -- 70,662 were from general high schools and 64,650 were from vocational and technical schools, Abdul said.

Teachers and students seemed optimistic of students' futures.

Suradi, a teacher at SMA 8 in Bukit Duri, South Jakarta said at least 60 percent of graduates will continue their studies at various state universities.

Some students said they would not take part in the entrance test for state universities because of tight competition.

"I am going to take a security guard course in Bandung," Paul, a graduate of a school in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta said, adding that his uncle had guaranteed him a job as a security guard.

A girl, Mia, said her father had agreed to pay her way through college. She said she hoped to study at Perbanas, a private banking college, if she failed entrance tests to state universities. "I know there's a lot of competition," she said.

Chairul, another graduate, also said he hoped to go to Perbanas. His father, a civil servant with the Agency for Technology Assessment and Application, had said that he should not immediately seek a job.

Betty, another graduate, said she would apply to the Jakarta Art Institute's School of Graphic Design. "It would make it easier to find a job in the future," she added.

Budi, whose hair was painted red and green, said, "Universities? Not now. We just want to celebrate our graduation." (jun/anr/10/03)