Parent to sue over death of son at ITB

Parent to sue over death of son at ITB

BANDUNG (JP): The parents of Zaki Tiffany Lazuardian will
press charges against those they consider responsible for the
death of their 18-year-old son during initiation week at the
prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

Zaki's father, Amir Hamzah, told The Jakarta Post here
yesterday that he would file charges as soon as the ruckus
caused by the death has subsided.

He would not reveal who would be sued. However, he did say
that if his car was hit by someone who was driving a borrowed
car, then the one who should be sued is the driver of the car
rather than the owner.

Zaki died on Jan. 8 after taking part in a rough 12-day
student initiation program organized by the Association of
Students of Department of Physics (Himafi).

Two key executive members of Himafi, Muhammad Ridjal and Budi
Sumarso, have recently been expelled by the ITB administration.

Amir Hamzah said he did not want to proceed with the planned
legal suit now because he did not want to distract the ITB
administration from its current campaign to banish initiation
programs in the other departments.

Initiation week, which often features strenuous physical
exercises, continue to survive in a number of universities
despite a government ban several years ago. The government
allowed in its place a program called campus orientation
activities, which mostly contain seminars or speeches.

Separately, other parents whose children were also "victims"
of the initiation reproached the program's activists.

Those ITB students are "hypocrites"; they often demonstrate
and campaign for human rights but fail to treat their fellow
students with dignity during the initiation week, one of the
parents said. (17/mds)