Brawl between STPDN students injures 11

Brawl between STPDN students injures 11

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Eleven youths were injured in a lunchtime brawl that erupted
among Public Administration Institute (STPDN) students in
Sumedang, West Java, on Tuesday.

A witness said the fight was sparked by a dispute between a
second-year student, identified as Simon of Papua, and a fourth-
year senior Hasyim Siregar of North Sumatra earlier that morning.

"Simon was caught in the act smuggling in a bottle of alcohol
during a class. Hasyim warned him to dispose of the bottle and
Simon punched Hasyim," the witness, who would not give his name,
told The Jakarta Post.

News of the incident spread and more than 1,000 fourth-year
students jeered Simon as he and other juniors, numbering about
3,000, began lunch in the campus dining room.

A food fight denegrated into a full-scale brawl as seniors
began throwing plates and glasses at the juniors.

The panicked juniors smashed the dining room's glass front
doors as they tried to leave building.

Dozens of lecturers intervened but could not could not stop
the fight. They called the Jatinangor Police who broke up the
melee.

Eleven students were treated at the campus for injuries
ranging from minor cuts and bruises to more serious wounds,
Sumedang Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Yoyok Subagyo told the Post
after visiting the clinic.

Officers had moved all the fourth-year students off of the
campus to prevent further clashes and questioned dozens of
students from various grades involved in the incident, Yoyok
said.

Violence is not new to STPDN, a state technical college that
produces the country's bureaucrats. The institute, which is
notorious for imposing military-style discipline on its students,
made the headlines in 2003 when SCTV television channel broadcast
video footage of a junior student, Wahyu Hidayat, who was beaten
to death by seniors.

The Sumedang District Court sentenced 10 STPDN students to
between seven and 10 months' jail for the accidental killing of
Wahyu.

Earlier in 2000, a junior STPDN student Erie Rakhman also died
from beatings by his seniors. Seven students involved in that
violence were also jailed.

After the 2003 killing, the government decided to move the
institute to Jakarta, where it would share facilities with the
Institute of Administrative Sciences.

However, the merger will only occur after the remaining
students in the Sumedang campus graduate.