Appointment with death
In this age of violence, hearing news about innocent people falling victim to pointless games no longer comes as a surprise here.
Although there are no statistics available about such incidents, especially those involving university students, news reports claim that the trend is on rise. Yesterday there were high school students brawls; today there are hazings at universities. Both distractions can lead to fatal tragedies.
On Tuesday, freshman Suryowati Hagus Darayanto, 21, died mysteriously during hazing at the National Institute of Science and Technology (ISTN) in Jakarta. A forensic expert said on Wednesday he suspected violence was involved in the death, that the freshman definitely did not die of natural causes. There were indications that the bruises on his body were caused by blunt objects, he said.
In this case neither the hazing committee nor the university rector has claimed responsibility.
Suryowati is not the first victim of the five-decade old practice. On past occasions many freshmen were injured at the hands of their overzealous seniors.
In a similar event in 1995, a 19-year-old freshman died as result of a cruel treatment while taking part in a basic training course for a university student regiment at private University of Tarumanegara, Jakarta.
Three students of the university were later jailed for three years each after they were found guilty by a court law of fatally torturing the freshmen.
Hazing sessions, which are also called initiation ceremonies, are marked by intimidating, menacing and bullying of freshmen by seniors, who occasionally force them to crawl on the ground as well as do push-ups. Less common hazing activities consist of signature begging from seniors, singing and shouting.
As the seniors are free to degrade freshmen, the routine practice turned into a show of supremacy of the former over the latter. When emotions are high and tempers raw, the fall of victims is unavoidable.
Over the years, hazing at various universities has been marred by tragedy after tragedy and a number freshmen have been killed. Parents have lodged complaints and begged the authorities to ban the disastrous practice.
With the march of time and the development of a culture of violence, not only does the crime rate keep increasing in society, but also human rights violations involving civilians, law enforcers and the military. It appears the massacre and rape of innocent people have now become part of military strategy.
This manifestation of official cold-bloodedness and vindictiveness must have influenced the students involved in annual hazing activities.
The education authorities tried to avoid the possibility of new fatalities among students by banning hazing in all universities in 1998. Last month the director general of higher learning of the Ministry of Education and Culture reminded all rectors of the negative sides of hazing.
He told them the activity could only be held for four days at the most, six hours a day with not only students but also lecturers involved. Programs, according to the guidelines, only include briefings on the working system of universities.
Now with the latest victim, the ban should be tightly implemented. We expect 21-year-old Suryowati to be the last casualty of the irresponsible practice.