DPR Member Calls for Evaluation of Homemade Gun Incident at School in Riau

Jakarta (ANTARA) - A member of Commission III of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Abdullah, has requested that the government evaluate the incident involving a homemade gun that resulted in the death of a student at a school in Siak Regency, Riau. A comprehensive evaluation, he said, must be conducted on teaching practices that potentially endanger students across all schools. The incident occurred during a practical session on making a homemade gun based on 3D technology (3D-printed gun). “Our children must not lose their lives and futures due to an unsafe and uncontrolled education system,” Abdullah said in Jakarta on Thursday. He emphasised that such practical activities contradict the safety principles in education as stipulated in Government Regulation No. 57 of 2021 on National Education Standards. The regulation, he said, mandates that the learning process be conducted safely, in accordance with students’ development, and without endangering their physical or psychological well-being. “I cannot fathom how the practice of making a homemade gun could take place in a school environment. This shows the weakness in the learning supervision system that should protect students,” he said. He also assessed that there are indications of negligence and potential serious legal violations in the teaching practice at that school, as regulated under Emergency Law No. 12 of 1951 on Firearms. “The law states that anyone who without right makes, possesses, or stores firearms can be subject to severe punishment,” he said. Previously, the Siak Resort Police in Riau Province investigated the death of a ninth-grade student at Siak Islamic Centre Junior High School, initialled MA (15), suspected due to an explosion of a homemade gun while taking a science practical exam. Head of the Criminal Investigation Unit of Siak Resort Police, AKP Raja Kosmos Parmulais, said the incident occurred when the victim was practising a device suspected to be a gun, and suddenly an explosion happened, causing the victim to suffer head injuries, on Wednesday (8/4). “We have conducted scene processing (TKP), and the secured items will be sent to the forensic laboratory (Labfor). We cannot yet confirm the materials or exact cause of the explosion until the examination results are available,” he said in Siak on Thursday.