Student stabbing takes brawl death toll to six

JAKARTA (JP): Another senior high school student has died in a fight, bringing the 1997 death toll of students killed in street brawls to at least six.

Madinah bin Simin, 18, a student at the private Panti Karya technical high school in Depok, was attacked and fatally stabbed in his back and thigh by a group of students from another school on Monday.

One of the victim's schoolmates, Agustian Hidayat, 17, suffered severe stab injuries to his left thigh and calf. He is currently being treated at the Marine Hospital in Cilandak, South Jakarta.

The police said they are still tracing suspects and investigating motives for the brawl.

The two students were on their way home on a seven-seat minibus when the other students attacked them.

Jakarta Police Spokesman, Lt. Col. E. Aritonang, who also supervises Depok, quoted eyewitnesses yesterday as saying that several students from the nearby Kesuma Bangsa technical school were believed to have triggered the incident.

Students from the latter school reportedly stopped and threw stones at the minibus plying the Depok-Lebak Bulus route at the entrance to the Beji Permai housing estate in Depok on Monday afternoon.

"They smashed the windows, got into the minibus, attacked the two victims with sharp weapons and ran away after seeing Madinah bleeding," Aritonang said.

The driver, who could do nothing during the attack, rushed the victims to the nearest hospital but Madinah died before they got there, Aritonang said.

Police data shows that three students died in June and two others last month. Of the teenage victims, two were technical high school students.

The data also reveals that more students from technical high schools, known as STMs, have been involved in street brawls than students from other schools.

Police statistics for 1997 show that students from 45 STMs, 23 senior high schools and two junior high schools were involved in around 150 student brawls in Greater Jakarta.

In the first seven months of this year, police said that students from 29 technical high schools, 14 senior high schools and four junior high schools were involved in at least 40 fights.

Aritonang condemned the brawls and the brutality of the students.

"How can the technical school students be so sadistic that they kill their fellow students in these incomprehensible brawls?" he said.

Aritonang called on parents to pay more attention to their children's behavior and not pretend that everything was fine.

"Sometimes, parents whose kids have been arrested for keeping sharp weapons or being involved in brawls are still trying to cover up the children's wrongdoings. That's not going to solve the problem," he said.

A police source at the City Police's Community Counseling Unit said that sometimes even the schools would not take responsibility for their students' actions. (cst)