Legislator urges schools to build harmonious spaces

House of Representatives (DPR RI) member Alex Indra Lukman has urged all members of the school community—including teachers, education staff, and students—to build a harmonious space during the teaching and learning process to prevent actions that could lead to criminal offences. “The responsibility of schools is not only related to the curriculum, but also to interactions within the school environment, both among students and with their teachers,” Alex Indra Lukman said in a written statement in Jakarta on Wednesday. He stated this was in response to the case of a homemade bomb detonated by a madrasa student in Padang City on Tuesday afternoon. The bomb was set off using a lighter during break time at around 10.15 a.m. WIB in front of a Year XII Social Sciences 7 classroom at the school, located on the outskirts of the West Sumatra provincial capital. The legislator, who represents the West Sumatra I electoral district, explained that according to the Padang City Police investigation, the perpetrator—also a registered student at the madrasa—had brought four homemade bombs to the school. However, only one was detonated, causing cracks in the classroom wall. Other evidence seized included a black box, a black bag, a mobile phone, firecrackers, a knife, arrows, marbles, bolts, and several other items. Lukman called on parents to play a more active role in educating their children and not to leave it entirely as the school’s responsibility. He cited the example of instilling humanitarian values, which would leave a deeper impression on a child’s soul if carried out by parents at home. “In this way, children will grow up with a more tolerant spirit and will not enjoy bullying their friends,” he said. He also advised investigators from the Padang City Police handling the bomb explosion incident not to ignore the rights of the child as stipulated in the Child Protection Law, namely Law No. 23 of 2002, which has been amended by Law No. 35 of 2014 and Law No. 17 of 2016.