31 Trisakti students injured in brawl

31 Trisakti students injured in brawl

JAKARTA (JP): A student was severely injured and some 30
others were hurt in a brawl between students of two rival
faculties at Trisakti University in West Jakarta on Friday
afternoon.

Daru Mulyo Hartanto of the mineral engineering faculty,
received serious injuries to his head, while the others were
treated for slight head injuries. All were taken to nearby Sumber
Waras Hospital.

Adam, also of the mineral engineering faculty, said hundreds
of mechanical engineering students walked into the mineral
engineering faculty building. The building is only a few meters
away from the mechanical engineering building.

"I was sitting and chatting with my friends at my faculty's
entrance when hundreds of mechanical engineering students came
in, pelted us with stones and hit us with anything available," he
told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Adam was slightly injured on his leg and managed to escape the
crowd.

U'uk, another student, said the crowd was brutal in behavior
as they also targeted female students.

Blood stains were seen on the building's third level floor and
on the walls of the ground floor. The entrance's glass door was
broken, while the glass walls on the building's second to fifth
floors were also broken.

Students refused to disclose the cause of the attack. One
student even threatened the Post if the story ran in the paper.

"It is an internal matter on the campus. Students will come
after you if you write an article tarnishing our campus image," a
student said.

Campus authorities said the brawl might be connected with the
long-standing hostility between students of the two faculties.

"In 1996, students from the same two faculties attacked each
other on the university grounds," Komang Sukaarsana, the rector's
assistant for student affairs, told the Post at his office.

Dozens of students and locals were injured in a stone-throwing
battle between the two faculties of Trisakti University in
1996.Kompas daily reported the conflict was caused by personal
problems among the students.

Komang said officials from both faculties were still pursuing
a solution to the problem. Both parties will be invited," he
said.

A student at the industrial engineering faculty said they were
given a break for one week starting Sept. 4. (asa)