Accused STPDN hazers file counter complaint
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post/Bandung
Two students blamed for the latest violent hazing incident at the state-run Institute of Public Administration (STPDN) in Sumedang, West Java, filed a counter complaint with police against the victim.
Sumedang Police Adj. Sr. Comr. Yoyok Subagiyono said on Friday his office received the complaint from the suspects, Imam Suhaeri, 21, and Nurmansyah Putra, 21, just hours after the two were expelled from the school.
The two suspects accused their 19-year old victim, Ichsan Suheri, and his father Hanafiah, who is the West Langsa district military chief in Aceh, of tarnishing their image, which led to their dismissal from the institute.
Earlier, Hanafiah reported to the police and the institute that his son, a younger student at the school, had been bullied by a group of upperclassmen at the school on Oct. 16.
Ichsan was hospitalized in Bandung for several days and later flew home along with his father to Aceh to undergo two months of counseling for psychological trauma due to the violent hazing ritual at the school.
Hanafiah also reported the case to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which oversees the civil servant preparatory institute in Jatinangor, Sumedang, some 30 kilometers from Bandung.
The ministry later decided to expel Nurmansyah and Imam from the school on Thursday, while the local police named the two students as suspects in a criminal case.
It was not clear why the suspects did not include the home affairs ministry and school administrators in their complaint submitted to the police.
"Even though the two are no longer STPDN students, we will continue to process their complaint, because every citizen has the right to get justice if he/she feels wronged," Yoyok told journalists in Bandung.
He said the suspects complained that they felt embarrassed because they were accused by the school and the ministry of lying.
They added that the accusation caused the home affairs ministry to impose a heavy punishment (dismissal), without giving them a chance to resume studies at STPDN.
According to Nurmansyah and Imam, the punishment was unfair, as three other upperclassmen who had been dismissed from the school as well as convicted by a court over the hazing-related death of Wahyu Hidayat last year, were allowed to continue their studies at STPDN.