Student killed in brutal hazing incident

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

A 20-year-old student died after allegedly being beaten by older students at the Public Administration Institute (STPDN) in Sumedang, West Java, police and doctors said on Wednesday.

The cause of death has not yet been established, and students and lecturers refused to comment on the matter. The school has a reputation for enforcing military-style discipline on its students.

The victim, identified as Wahyu Hidayat, died on Tuesday night and his body was taken to the Al Islam Hospital in Bandung, West Java, for an autopsy, a hospital official said.

"He was already dead when he was brought to the hospital," the official said.

Doctors at the hospital refused to comment on the cause of death. "We cannot answer your questions. Please ask the victim's friends," a doctor said.

Wahyu, from Bogor, West Java, was a first semester student at the institute, which is run by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

A number of police officers and dozens of STPDN students escorted the body of Wahyu to his home in Bogor at about 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

The hospital had appealed to the victim's family not to bring the body home because the autopsy was not yet complete.

Officers at the Cikeruh Police station, about 200 meters from the STPDN campus on Jl. Jatinangor in Sumedang, said they never received a report on Wahyu's death.

Sumedang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Yoyok S. said he had sent a team of detectives to investigate the death.

"There have been reports that the victim was beaten by older students. We are gathering evidence now. The STPDN has not provided us any information on the cause of the death," he said.

Yoyok said police investigators would speak with doctors at the Al Islam Hospital, the victim's fellow students and his family in Bogor.

"We will refer to a similar incident two years ago (on the campus). Frankly speaking, we don't want anything like this to happen again. If certain parties refuse to provide us details on the student's death, we will have to dig to find the truth," he said.

The head of the human relations office at STPDN could not be reached for comment, as he was among those accompanying Wahyu's body back to his home in Bogor.

In March 2000, STPDN student Erie Rakhman, 22, died after being beaten by seven older students.

Erie died several hours after being taken to the Al Islam Hospital. He is believed to have been beaten with a blunt object.

The seven students charged in the killing were convicted and sentenced to jail by the Sumedang District Court.