KPAI: Sarong Warfare Signals Critical Crisis in Children's Play Spaces

Jakarta — Peaceful Ramadhan evenings characterised by Quran recitations and rest have increasingly been disrupted by running footsteps and shouts emanating from street corners. The phenomenon of sarong warfare—where youth engage in coordinated group clashes using sarongs as weapons—has evolved from a lighthearted pastime among teenagers filling the pre-dawn hours to an alarming form of violence.

The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) views the escalation of sarong warfare during Ramadhan as merely the tip of a much larger problem. Beneath these violent clashes lies a constellation of issues including the crisis in safe recreational spaces, inadequate parental supervision, and the failure of communities to effectively facilitate the realisation of children’s rights.

“The widespread phenomenon of sarong warfare, which has even claimed lives and caused concussions, is not merely typical adolescent mischief. This is an emergency signal from a crisis in play spaces, weak supervision, and the failure of communities to facilitate the energy and development of our children,” said KPAI Vice Chairman Jasra Putra in Jakarta on Monday, 2 March 2026.

According to Putra, sarong warfare typically occurs in densely populated residential areas. “As vast tracts of land have been converted into factories or car parks, children’s space for movement has become severely restricted. Consequently, when Ramadhan arrives and children have a reason to leave home in the evening, they run in search of the widest possible spaces for self-expression,” explained Jasra Putra.

He noted that the state has already enshrined the guarantee of children’s leisure time within Cluster 4 of the Child Rights Fulfilment framework in the Child-Friendly District/Municipality (KLA) programme. However, field implementation still requires systematic budgetary support and environmental planning.

Previously, in Garut Regency, West Java, police forcibly dispersed a group engaged in sarong warfare on Sunday, 1 March 2026. In Ponorogo, East Java, police conducted raids in the Ponorogo town square area to prevent sarong warfare and illegal street racing.