Student brawls still alarming

Student brawls still alarming

JAKARTA (JP): Despite the long struggle by police and teachers
to curb student brawls in the capital, the number of teenagers
killed in clashes last year was 20 percent higher than in 1994.

Police data show that at least 12 students and one other
person died in a total of 215 brawls recorded in the city last
year, while in 1994 10 students were killed in 160 brawls.

Last year, a total of 604 students were arrested and 77 of
them were jailed for fighting. The remaining students were
released after being warned not to fight again.

In 1994 as many as 795 out of 917 students apprehended in
brawls were sent to court.

At seminars, meetings and discussions on how to understand and
curb the student brawls, many people set forth the conviction
that brawls will continue to dominate criminal behavior in
Indonesia's capital this year.

Serious

"This is a serious problem but we still don't know how to deal
with it," said City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Dibyo Widodo, looking
for ideas and suggestions from the public.

"It's a gruesome condition and I can imagine the feelings of
the parents whose kids were killed in these foolish brawls," said
Dibyo, a father of two senior high school students.

"We, the police, only disperse those involved in brawls and,
when necessary, make arrests," he said. "We work like a fire
brigade."

In many cases, the students, who are "ready to kill", carry
various kind of sharp weapons, such as swords, knives and
scissors, when they are out of their houses.

Operations launched by police against students and the
confiscation of their weapons have done little to stop the
aggression.

The students apparently know how to hide their weapons in
order to deceive police officers and teachers, who periodically
check school bags.

The schools with the most trouble makers are located in South
and Central Jakarta.

Data show that most student brawls in the city take place on
Saturdays, especially at midday when the morning classes end and
the afternoon classes start.

Dibyo said that stones and broken sticks litter the street due
to student brawls every day in front of his official residence
located near one of the city's most troublesome schools. (bsr)