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)