Coping with student brawls not easy: Police

Coping with student brawls not easy: Police

JAKARTA (JP): Police and teachers are still struggling to
understand and curb student brawls in the capital.

Operations launched by police against students and the
confiscation of their weapons have done little to stop the
aggression.

"At least seven high school students have been killed in
brawls this year," City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Dibyo Widodo said
at a meeting with teachers and students yesterday.

"This is a serious problem but we still don't know how to deal
with it," said Dibyo, looking for ideas and suggestion from the
public.

"We, the police, only disperse those involved in brawls and,
when necessary, make arrests," he said. "We work like a fire
brigade."

City police recorded a total of 160 brawls involving junior
and senior high schools students last year, when 10 students
died, 22 were seriously wounded and 57 injured slightly.

The 1994 data revealed that 917 students were caught, of whom
795 were arrested.

The schools with the most trouble makers are located in South
and Central Jakarta.

Data shows that most student brawls in the city take place on
Saturdays.

"It's a gruesome condition and I can imagine the feelings of
the parents whose kids were killed in these foolish brawls," said
Dibyo, a father of two senior high school students.

"Every time I wake up in the morning, I keep on thinking and
thinking how to reduce the number of brawls," he said.

Apart from searching students, police also stop busloads of
students to prevent them from meeting students from other
schools, which normally turns into a fight.

The South Jakarta police, with the support of local military
personnel, have also set up special posts in trouble spots.

But few police efforts have been fruitful, said Dibyo.

Teachers

The teachers shared Dibyo's opinion, saying that it is not
easy for them to stop juvenile delinquency.

Knowing that the police will search them at any time,
students generally keep their weapons at nearby food stalls, said
M.B. Samosir, deputy to the headmaster of SMA 4 PSKD in South
Jakarta.

In some cases the students even use their belts as weapons.

Samosir told The Jakarta Post that their habit of watching
brutal movies on TV has played a role in the students' behavior.

"Today's youths have a lot of energy but no place to release
it," he said. "They therefore turn to fighting and chasing after
each other with stones and whatever else."

Samosir also cited parental supervision and poor teacher
welfare as likely causes.

"Some of the students go back to school in the evening to chat
with friends because no one is at home," he said.

The meeting yesterday was organized by the City Traffic Police
Directorate. It was attended by the city's senior police officers
and dozens of high school teachers and students. (bsr)