Student brawls continue to take their toll in 1999

JAKARTA (JP): As in the past few years, fatal student brawls marred the capital in 1999. This year, the number of lives lost in street fights among rival school students have so far claimed 30, which is more than double from last year's figure of 14.

Besides actively taking part in fights, some high school students are also involved in crimes, such as sexual harassment, bus hijacking, holdups and cases involving drugs.

In the first two months of the year, five students were killed and 30 others injured in at least 25 street brawls, according to data released by the city social disturbance control center.

Some 70 high school students were rounded up on Feb. 8 for their alleged involvement in the hijacking of an intercity Arimbi bus. The students, from private high schools SMU PGRI of Tangerang and SMK Poncol of Central Jakarta, took over a bus plying the Kalideres-Merak route from the Cikokol bus terminal in Tangerang. They then forced the driver to take them to state-run high school SMK Negeri 80 in Kalideres, West Jakarta. They intended to "teach a lesson" to students from the rival school.

"They broke down the bus doors, scared away my passengers and intimidated me into taking them to that school," Arimbi bus driver Mustofa said.

A technical high school student was stabbed to death on March 18 in Duren Sawit district, East Jakarta.

Police identified the dead victim as Joko Ariyanto, 17, of Jl. Baru, Cakung, North Jakarta. He died from severe stab wounds to his back and head.

Joko, along with fellow students from STM Budi Mulia Technical High School, were involved in a brawl with residents of Jl. Jembatan Baru at 3 p.m.

Fatal jump

Fourteen students were found dead floating in the Cisadane River in Bogor on March 26. Local police said the victims, along with about 100 of their fellow students from three maritime schools in Jakarta, left for Bogor by train the previous day following a rumor, which was later proven untrue, that one of their colleagues was violently attacked by students from STM Penerbangan Technical High School in Bogor.

Upon their arrival, the visiting students beat some of the Penerbangan students and vandalized vehicles parked on the school compound before being chased away by angry residents.

In an effort to escape the locals, some of the students -- who usually fight only in groups -- jumped into the nearby Cisadane River.

One student and two men were arrested for their alleged role in spreading the groundless rumor. The case of the students, however, remains unclear.

"(The drowning) was purely an accident. It was raining and the river's current was flowing quickly," Bogor Police chief Lt. Col. Edmond Ilyas said at the time.

Asep bin Suhardi, 18, a senior student of privately run STM Kedung Waringin Technical High School in Bekasi was stabbed to death on March 29, allegedly by students from another technical high school.

He died from multiple stab wounds, including severe wounds to the back of his head.

Student brawls vanish from city streets only during school holidays, which are usually in the middle and end of the year.

The fights return soon after school begins again.

Andi Purnama Sidi, 16, of SMKN I Cikupa Vocational High School in Tangerang was fatally stabbed on July 1 during a midday brawl between students from SMKN I and SMUN I high schools in front of the Citra Raya housing complex in Cikupa.

Police detained Didi, a student who is also 16, from the rival school on grounds of suspicion.

Another high school student lost his life two days later during a street brawl between his gang and another student group in front of Lebak Bulus bus terminal in South Jakarta.

Eko Kurniawan, 17, of state-run SMU 46 in Cirendeu, Ciputat, died after receiving severe head wounds and stab wounds to his body in the brawl.

A brawl between students of two high schools on Jl. Matraman in East Jakarta claimed one life on July 21.

The victim, a first year student, was stabbed three times while trying to escape the afternoon brawl, in which the two groups threw stones at each other on the busy street.

Shot

A student, Syaifuddin, 19, of Bhakti Pertiwi Senior High School in Kedoya, West Jakarta, died on Sept. 15 after he was shot in the back. The bullet pierced his left lung near the Mobile Police Brigade dormitory in Central Jakarta.

Witnesses and police gave conflicting accounts in the fatal shooting. Some said his death occurred during a brawl, but others claimed he was killed when students tried to storm the dormitory on Jl. K.S. Tubun.

An officer and eyewitnesses said the attacker was in police uniform.

A 22-year-old student was butchered to death in a violent brawl between students of two rival schools of privately run Trisakti University in West Jakarta about two weeks later.

The incident, which was over a long-running dispute, occurred on the campus grounds in Grogol. Two other students were injured.

The victim, Muhammad Taufik Lubis, a student in his final year at the mechanical engineering school, was fatally stabbed in his left thigh and died at the nearby Sumber Waras Hospital one hour after the incident.

The fatal brawl proved that student fights are not always confined to high school students in the capital.

Cepi, 15, of Karya Guna Senior Secondary Technical School in Manggarai subdistrict, South Jakarta, also died from stab wounds during a vicious brawl in the Manggarai Tunnel of South Jakarta between his gang and students from SMU 1 Budi Utomo High School of Central Jakarta.

The victim received serious stab injuries to his head and back.

Bogor Police arrested on Nov. 23 six of nine teenagers suspected of forcing three male junior high school students to remove their clothes and sexually harassing a female junior high school student aboard a public bus.

The suspects, arrested near the location of the incident in Warung Jambu, were mostly senior high school students.

Four days later, Gunawan, 18, a student from Pendidikan Mulia High School (YPM), was killed during a vicious brawl near his school on Jl. Ciputat Raya, Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta.

Gunawan was killed after being cornered by a group of 300 students from a rival school. The attackers were armed with machetes, sickles and belts. The victim was fatally stabbed in his abdomen, chest and loins.

Denny Chandra, of Budi Murni 4 vocational high school (STM) in the East Jakarta subdistrict of Cipayung, was killed on Dec. 3 in a similar street brawl.

Police said the suspect was a student from a rival school. (ylt)