Future bureaucrat named brawl suspect

SUMEDANG, West Java: The Sumedang police department in West Java named on Wednesday Hasyim Siregar a suspect for inciting a riot involving thousands of students at the country's main civil servant academy, the Public Administration Institute (STPDN).

Sumedang police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Yoyok Subagyono said that the police had questioned 11 witnesses who were injured in the incident -- apparently triggered by a dispute between 22-year-old fourth-year student Hasyim and second-year student Simon Salos, and later turned into a riot between gangs that sided with the two combatants.

However, Hasyim will be charged with minor assault, and could face a three-month jail term if proven guilty.

Violent incidents are nothing new at STPDN, which is notorious for imposing military-style discipline on the country's future civil servants. It made headlines in 2003 when video footage was aired nationwide of a student, Wahyu Hidayat, being beaten to death by older students. -- JP