City police pledges to end student brawls

JAKARTA (JP): The police will intensify its special operation to handle student brawling, the City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata said yesterday.

"This special operations on student brawls will be included in the Kilat Jaya operation," Hamami told reporters. Kilat Jaya is a special operation set up by the police to handle hoodlums and criminals in the city.

He said the police are giving their full attention to the handling of student brawls.

The police have collected data on students who are categorized as "troublemakers", he said.

Hamami, who was appointed as the City Police Chief on March 14, said his office would place officers in places where students met, such as terminals, bus shelters and shopping centers.

"Those students need more attention. They are our sons and daughters," he said.

Hamami, who is also a former adjutant to President Soeharto, said the students were in a transitional age, and were seeking an identity.

However, he said the police would treat students who commit crimes according to the law.

He admitted that the number of police officers would not be adequate to deal with all corners of the city. "But supervising students is not only the job of the police. Police, parents, teachers and other parties should work together to solve the problem," he added.

"The press should also help to solve the problem," he said.

He said ideally the ratio between police and people should be one for every 300 persons. "Now we have one officer per 838 residents," he said.

City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna had earlier said that police would conduct raids on student "battle fields".

The chairman of the student association of the senior high school SMA 70, Haryo Damar W, told The Jakarta Post yesterday the move would be positive as long as these raids were carried out simultaneously, everywhere the brawls usually take place.

Quoting police records, Haryo said South Jakarta alone had more than 33 "battle fields". It would be hard for the officers to cover all these spots, he said.

Another student at a high school in Blok M said he believed that the police would act only when brawling hit the headlines. "Mayestik and Taman Puring are very dangerous areas because students from other schools will intercept and attack us for no reason. Police know, but no action have been taken. There is a police sub precinct in Taman Puring," said the student, who requested anonymity. (04/sur)