140 students detained for planning attack

JAKARTA (JP): City police detained yesterday about 140 Jakarta and Bogor high school students for allegedly planning to attack a private high school in Sukabumi, West Java.

City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Permantoro told reporters that the arrests were made in response to reports about the planned attack from a driver of the city-owned bus company PPD.

Bambang said that the students came to PPD's pool on Jl. Kramat Jati in East Jakarta, asking bus crews to transport them to Sukabumi, to attack students in Mardiyuwana Senior High School. Instead of abiding by their request, the crew reported the case to the police, who immediately came to the site and arrested the students.

Police also confiscated a number of weapons, including knives, hammers and chains, from the students.

A police officer, who asked not to be named, said that the students planned the attack after receiving leaflets which stated that students of the Mardiyuwana Senior High School had burned the holy Koran.

City police are still investigating the incident, Bambang said.

Head of the City Police Directorate of Detectives, Col. Nurfaizi, said that city police use educative and persuasive approaches toward students who disturb public order and security.

He appealed to all parties, including parents, teachers and the public to participate in controlling the students' emotions.

City police will increase its operation against youth delinquency, especially student brawls, through a special operation called Kilat Jaya Operation, he disclosed. "The police will take quick and integrated action against any crimes."

Yesterday's alleged planned attack is the latest in a series of similar actions taken by students from Jakarta and Bogor over the last few days.

According city police data, the number of security disturbances committed by students in the city is on the increase.

In the first six months of this year alone, 123 cases of security disturbances were recorded in Jakarta. By comparison, 183 cases were registered in 1994 and only 80 cases in 1993. The cases consisted of brawls, robberies and acts of torture and vandalism.

The total number of students arrested by the police, for being involved in security disturbance this year, reached over 1,500 students, of whom 200 were jailed and another 66 are still pending trial.

The number of senior high school students in Jakarta is about 350,000, the officer said, adding that security disturbances by students damaged 172 buses and five school buildings this year. (29)