Stop student brawls

Stop student brawls

From Warta Kota

Jakarta, as the capital city of Indonesia, is now considered
by many to be insecure, in disarray and lacking in humanity. This
feeling of insecurity is particularly felt when we hear and see
how daringly bag snatchers, muggers, robbers and the many other
types of criminals ("you name 'em, we have 'em") conduct their
activities in public places. In other words, violence is
everywhere in our midst.

First, there are the vigilante-style beatings and lynchings of
suspects by mobs, or the burning alive of suspects leaving
nothing but charred corpses -- arbitrary acts of brutality that
should not be allowed to continue by city residents.

Then we have brawls among students. One would certainly feel
dumbfounded when one read a newspaper account of the student
brawls that appeared recently, "Dozens of high school students
have died a useless death, scores of private cars, public buses
and school buildings have been damaged". Apart from that many
other criminal acts have been committed by students, including
bus hijackings and other offenses. All of these have led us to be
deeply concerned about the fate of the up and coming generation.

In view of the above facts, it is high time we did something:
in the name of humanity, we must try our best to put an end to
student brawling. Parents, teachers, school principals, police,
the city administration, and the people's representatives
together must play a more significant role in order to seek
effective ways of overcoming these problems.

Don't let the young generation die in vain or become
brutalized. Those involved in brawls are just like hoodlums,
brandishing weapons and throwing stones practically at anything
or, worse still, stripping passengers of their belongings.
Let us vow to stop this disruption and make Jakarta a peaceful
place to live in.

ERWIN H AL

Jakarta