School student commits suicide

School student commits suicide

Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Semarang, Central Java

An elementary school student was found dead in his house here on
Tuesday, in an apparent suicide.

The body of Bambang Surono Suratman, a fifth-year student, was
found hanging by a selendang (a stole commonly worn by Javanese
women) by his mother Juminem in a bedroom they shared.

The motive behind the suicide is unknown.

It was the second suicide attempt by an elementary school
student after another boy in the West Java town of Garut,
Heryanto, hung himself on Aug. 22 after he found out his parents
could not afford to pay Rp 2,500 (30 US cents) for school
stationery.

Heryanto survived, but suffered permanent brain damage.

Juminem said she woke her 11-year-old son up for school that
morning. She said Bambang got up, before she went to the kitchen
to boil water. Shortly afterwards, Juminem saw Bambang reentering
the bedroom.

Juminem said she noticed that her son did not come out of the
bedroom to take a bath while she was busy boiling water and
cooking. Anxious, she went to the bedroom and found it was locked
from the inside.

"My husband and I were surprised to find that he had hung
himself with a selendang," said Juminem in tears.

The selendang, belonging to Juminem, was tied to a wooden beam
on the ceiling. Apparently, Bambang used a chair to reach the
beam, said Juminem.

Bambang's father, Parno, is a construction worker, while his
mother is a laundrywoman. They live in a modest house in Kramas
subdistrict, Tembalang district, some four kilometers from
downtown Semarang.

Bambang's body was sent to Karyadi Hospital for an autopsy.

Tri Purwadi, Bambang's teacher at Bulusan elementary school in
Tembalang district, said he had not noticed anything unusual
about Bambang behavior and his relationship with his classmates.

However, he noticed that Bambang had skipped classes recently,
prompting his parents to accompany him to school.

Purwadi said Bambang had a poor academic record this school
year.

"He (Bambang) ranked last among 27 students in his class,"
said Purwadi, referring to the students' mid-semester academic
report.

The teacher dismissed speculation that economic reasons were
behind the suicide. He said that Bambang's family had no problem
paying school fees, which had always been paid on time.

However another teacher, Siswadi, said Bambang had displayed
strange behavior when he was in the fourth year. He recounted the
day when Bambang's parents found their son hanging around in a
bird market around seven kilometers from school.

"He (Bambang) told me he went to the market on foot," Siswadi
recalled.

Purwadi added Bambang had looked strange in the past two weeks
before he died.

"He quite often dressed up as a clown, had his face made up
and put balls inside his shirt so that he looked like he had
breasts. He danced during recess and it made his friends laugh,"
Purwadi said.

Classes were suspended on Tuesday as students and teachers
mourned the death of Bambang.