Government to revise STPDN curriculum

Government to revise STPDN curriculum

Tiarma Siboro and Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has vowed to wipe out military-style training at
the government-run Public Administration Institute (STPDN) after
a student was allegedly beaten to death last Tuesday.

Wahyu Hidayat, 20, a first-year student, died after he was
allegedly beaten by his seniors at the institute, which has a
reputation for imposing military-style discipline. It is run by
the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Following the mob attack, the institute dismissed three
students identified as YS, DH, and HS, while 23 others face
administrative sanctions. Sumedang Police have also declared the
three suspects for murder.

His seniors had accused Wahyu of being undisciplined for
skipping Independence Day celebrations at the campus on Aug. 17
and visiting his parents in Bogor, West Java instead.

Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno admitted on Monday that
the assault violated the institute's internal regulations banning
any physical punishment.

"The institute has developed a senior-junior relationship,
instead of a brotherhood, among the students and it allows
excesses in their behavior," Hari told a press conference.

"I plan to evaluate its curriculum and ban any military-style
exercises from its education programs."

The minister said Wahyu was taken by his seniors at midnight
to the campus's halls where he was beaten.

"Such punishment cannot be accepted," said Hari, a retired
three-star Army general.

He said he had sent a team from the ministry's inspectorate
general to investigate the incident, including questioning
institute heads.

On Monday, police reconstructed the crime at the scene, while
witnesses -- all of them STPDN students -- described how their
seniors repeatedly beat and kicked Wahyu, causing the injuries
that led to his death.

Separately, the House of Representatives' Commission VI on
education urged the Ministry of National Education on Monday to
draft a government regulation on freshmen admissions.

"The ministry should pay more attention to violence during the
initiation period at schools," commission deputy chairman Heri
Akhmadi said after the hearing between the commission and
ministry.

The director general for higher education, Satrio Soemantri
Brodjonegoro, said the minister already had a ministerial decree
on freshmen admissions, but implementation should be returned to
the schools respectively.

"Anyone who violates the decree could be charged under the
criminal code," he said on the sidelines of the hearing.