Girls go too far with hazing ritual

Leo Wahyudi S, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Five recent alumni of public high school SMU 82 were named suspects by the police on Thursday for going too far with a traditional hazing ritual targeted at 17 of their younger former schoolmates. All the suspects and victims were girls.

Chief of the Kebayoran Baru Police sub precinct Comr. Rudi Antariksawan said the suspects were accused of violating Article 335 of the Criminal Code on offensive behavior, which carries a maximum of one year in prison.

The suspects are not currently in detention, but they have to report to the police twice a week.

The victims' parents on Wednesday complained that their children were abducted, assaulted and sexually harassed.

One of the victims, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that she and her fellow students had their faces slapped, were made to squat in a very uncomfortable position for more than 30 minutes and had their shirts unbuttoned to reveal their navels.

On Wednesday, some 70 youngsters, mostly recent alumni of SMU 82, forcibly abducted 17 current students in several cars after school as they left SMU 82, which is located on Jl. Daha, South Jakarta. The students, who were picked up randomly, were taken to Taman Dharmawangsa, where the incident took place.

The suspects told reporters that what they did was a school tradition called "One Day".

"It was just a matter of the school tradition for the alumni to haze the juniors. It's very normal for us, the alumni," one of the suspects said.

Sri Jasman, a mother of one of the victims, said the police should charge the suspects not just for offensive behavior, but with assault.

The parents complained that their daughters suffered physical and mental duress after the incident. None of them were seriously injured, but one student collapsed after an asthma attack, apparently brought on by the stress of the situation.