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.