Student stabbing takes brawl death toll to six

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)