Music concert for students

JAKARTA (JP): In an effort to reduce student brawls in the capital, the Jakarta Student-Youth Solidarity (SPPJ) held a concert with a theme of "stop student brawls" on Saturday.

Some 3,000 senior high school students sporting various hair styles crowded the parking lot of Lenteng Agung Railway Station in South Jakarta.

"The idea of organizing a music concert just occurred to us two weeks ago. That's why we had limited time for the preparation," Rully, chief of the concert organizing committee, said.

Rully said the concert was meant to bring students, who are prone to interschool brawls, together in appreciation of music.

"We are tired of seeing interschool brawls. They seem to be never-ending," he said.

The concert, he said, gave an opportunity for 45 registered senior high school bands to show off their musical talents, while the audience watched the performances in a heavy downpour.

The concert also attracted passersby and passengers alighting from trains at the station. It also caused heavy traffic jam on the roads heading to Pasar Minggu and Depok.

Rully said the concert, which cost the organizer some Rp 2 million (US$212), was funded by donations that SPPJ activists had received during rallies it had organized. (01)