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)