Police arrest 121 students in anti-brawl drive

JAKARTA (JP): The police apprehended 121 high school students in various places in Central Jakarta yesterday in an effort to control student brawls which have once again flared up.

The Central Jakarta Police seized from the students a knife, sword and 20 belts which had bicycle cogwheels or larger steel discs in place of buckles.

"We will continue raids on students brawling. This is an instruction of the Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata," the Central Jakarta Police chief S.Y. Wenas announced yesterday.

He said the students will be released after they sign statements saying they will no longer be involved in brawls. They will also have their fingerprints taken.

However, Wenas said the police will detain two students, Anto and Nuriadi, from who the knife and sword were confiscated.

He added that the police do not know how to classify the belts. "Are they accessories or arms? We don't know. However, we seized the belts," he added

The operation started at 3 p.m. The police apprehended students at a bus shelter on Jl. Lapangan Banteng Utara. Some officers beat students with rattan sticks when they tried to run away.

The 70 officers also arrested students at bus shelters on Jl. Pasar Baru where student brawls often break out.

The operation was also conducted near other schools, including on Jl. Budi Utomo and Jl. Poncol where the technical high school students are considered troublemakers. Some students were taken away by police car.

The police also arrested Hery, an alleged drug dealer, on Jl. Kramat Raya, and seized some 800 barbiturate pills which were found in his kiosk.

"Hery was arrested few months ago," one officer said.

In the same area some pornographic books were seized in a kiosk. The kiosk owner had deserted it.

It is not the first time the police have conducted such an operation. Some months ago the police also cracked down on student brawls. Despite the operations the number of student brawls has increased.

City Council Speaker M.H. Ritonga criticized the police and their sporadic efforts to stop the widespread student brawls.

M.H. Ritonga, also the city police chief from 1989 to 1992, said the city's strategy of encouraging discussion between students and parents had bore little fruit.

Student brawls occur in the city every 1.5 days. Last year, 12 students were killed in 215 brawls, while in 1994, 10 were killed in 160 brawls.

In the last six days, three teenagers have died in student brawls. Rachmat Hidayat, an 18-year-old technical high school student was killed in a brawl in East Jakarta on Friday. Hery Heriansyah, a 13-year-old junior high school student died in a brawl in West Jakarta Saturday. Raimon Sitepu, 18, was killed on Sunday by a group of teenagers in front of his residence in Menteng, Central Jakarta. One of the alleged assailants, caught and beaten by a mob, is being treated at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital for his injuries. (04)