Parents demand justice for son killed in initiation

By Fabiola Desy Unidjaja

SERANG, West Java (JP): The parents of a student who died during an initiation ceremony last week said on Sunday they wanted those guilty of their son's death brought to trial.

Suryowati, a 21-year-old student of the National Institute of Science and Technology (ISTN) died on Tuesday not long after senior students from the institute brought him to a hospital in Depok.

Siti Dara, Suryowati's mother, reported the case to South Jakarta Police and demanded that it be properly investigated.

She said she had also asked her brother, a police colonel at the Jakarta Police Headquarters, to represent her in the case.

"We can not accept our son's death, because we are convinced that it was unnatural," Siti told The Jakarta Post at her home. She said Suryowati sustained bruises to his head and chest during the initiation at the campus.

She said she was disappointed with hazing day committee members who failed to inform her about the tragedy sooner.

"I received the call around 9 p.m. on Tuesday, but the hospital record said Suryowati died at 5:15 p.m.," she said.

Siti added that two hours after the phone call, she was picked up by some of the committee members from her home in Serang, which is about a 90-minute drive from the capital.

All members refused to tell her why she was picked up or what happened to her son.

This year's ISTN initiation ceremony was held without permission from the rectorate since the institute banned the ceremony, the rector, Fuad Ahmad Afdhal, said.

Fuad denied the institute was responsible for the tragedy and blamed the committee for holding the banned initiation at the ISTN campus, the Suara Pembaruan daily quoted him as saying.

Guilty party

When asked who she would press charges against, Siti did not answer but insisted that the case be solved properly.

She pointed out that neither her nor her husband blamed the entire committee, but only the guilty party.

"We just want those who caused the death of our son tried," she explained.

Hundreds of ISTN students attended Suryowati's burial on Wednesday. A stout young man with short hair met Siti and asked for her forgiveness. She said she could recall the man if she saw him again.

Suryowati was Siti's youngest son from her first marriage. When her husband died in 1980, she remarried and had three children with second husband Sudarno.

Suryowati had a good relationship with all the family members, including his stepfather.

Suryowati was known to be kindhearted and well-mannered. He worked at a PT Siemens factory for 18 months after graduating from high school. He quit in January and agreed to continue his studies at ISTN after his parents convinced him they could afford it.

About two weeks before his death, Suryowati visited a well- known Banten mosque to pray. He also promised Siti, with whom he was very close, that he would buy her a gold necklace when he graduated from the institute.

"Suryowati often said he only wanted to make me happy," Siti said as she fought back tears. She also said she would only be happy when she learned the truth about her son's death.