Student killed in brutal hazing incident

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.