City reels from growing toll of student violence

JAKARTA (JP): Four high school students have died in three brawls and one accident in the past two days, leaving many city residents shocked by the bloody toll from student violence in the capital.

A student was fatally injured on Monday after being struck by a Metromini public minibus when he attempted to stop the vehicle by standing in the middle of the street. Locals beat the driver of the bus to death.

"There is no easy explanation as to why students opt for such unnecessary deaths. The police urge students to stop this fighting. Please go back to your schools and study," city police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis said on Tuesday.

The latest death in a student brawl occurred at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday in Harmoni, Central Jakarta.

Irvana, 19, a student of technical vocational high school STM DKI 58 was stabbed in his buttocks and the right side of his chest by students from a rival school. His heart was punctured in the stabbing.

According to the victim's classmate, Firmansyah, 17, the killing occurred after a group of about 30 students from his school mistakenly got onto a bus that was already overloaded with students from a rival school.

He said they had forced the bus to stop since none of the previous buses pulled over and they were late.

"We were already 10 minutes late," Firmansyah, who suffered gash wounds to his left abdomen and back during the brawl, told reporters at the emergency room of Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital.

"Unfortunately, we stopped the wrong bus."

Students of rival school STM Kampung Jawa, who were on board the bus, immediately got off the bus and chased after Firmansyah and his classmates, including Irvana.

"We tried to run, but they chased us, and worse, they got more help from their friends who were riding on two other buses," Firmansyah said.

"They had machetes, sickles and many more weapons in their hands."

Irvana died at the hospital from his wounds.

"I saw my attackers holding a machete with a hooked point. We couldn't fight back. There were so many of them. I only had my backpack and belt for protection," Firmansyah said.

Accident

Separately, drivers of Metromini T.4 minibuses which ply the Senen-Pondok Kopi route held a strike on Tuesday to protest the killing of their colleague a day earlier by residents of Jl. Cempaka Putih Barat.

The people killed him after he ran over junior high school student Wisjnu Widodo, who was a local resident.

Wisjnu and his classmates from SMP 136 were waiting for a bus on the street after school on Monday evening when the boy stood in the middle of the road to stop the speeding T 47 minibus.

He held out his hands to try to halt the bus to let his friends get on. The driver, Zaenudin, 24, was unable to brake in time and struck Wisnu.

Zaenudin attempted to find Wisnu's family to apologize for the accident and their son's death, but he was set upon by locals.

He died from massive injuries following the beating.

Another death occurred on Jl. Bekasi Timur in Jatinegara, East Jakarta, when an 18-year-old student was involved in a brawl on top of a public bus on Monday afternoon.

Rustam Marpaung fought with rival students and sustained several abdominal injuries.

When police officers cleared the area, they found his lifeless body on a crossroads.

His parents only learned of the death of their son on Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday, another street brawl killed student Auliandra, 15, in Depok, south of here.

The victim and his friend, Ali Ahmad, were waiting at a bus stand on Jl. Margonda Raya at the Pancoran Mas intersection when a group of students from a rival school attacked them.

Ali managed to escape but Auliandra was left alone to fend for himself.

He was stabbed to death in the back and arms.

Although the motives for the attacks remain unclear, many argue they are sparked by a desire for revenge or adolescent frustration. (01/ylt)