Girls go too far with hazing ritual

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.