Suspects in latest STPDN violence freed
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
Police released on Wednesday two students who were officially named suspects in the latest bullying incident at the Institute of Public Administration (STPDN) in Sumedang, West Java.
Both suspects, Nurmansyah Putra, 21, and Imam Suhaeri, 21, were only ordered to report to Jatinangor Police, some 20 kilometers from their campus, once a day.
Sumedang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Yoyok Subagiyono said the suspension of their detention was to allow the suspects to take part in a semester examination at the school.
However, Yoyok did not say if the two second-year students, from Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, would be detained again or not after the examination.
Nurmansyah and Imam had been held for two days since Monday for intensive interrogation on charges of bullying younger student Ichsan Suheri, 19, on Oct. 16, on campus.
"The two suspects have confessed to beating the victim and ordering him to lift up a 38-kilogram barbell with one hand. As he was too weak to hold the weight up, the barbell fell on his head," Yoyok said.
Yoyok said the suspects claimed they ordered Ichsan to carry the 38-kilogram barbell merely for fun, with no intention of training him.
Based on statements by 60 Acehnese colleagues, the police concluded that the incident was not a "collective crime" as it was only perpetrated by the two senior students, he said.
Doctors, who treated Ichsan at the Al-Islam hospital in Bandung, said the violence caused Ichsan to suffer psychological trauma and needed a two-month counseling session to recover.
His father, Hanafiah who is the West Langsa district military chief in Aceh, took Ichsan home to Aceh for counseling on Tuesday.
Yoyok said Nurmansyah and Imam could face a maximum of one- year jail term for violating Article 352 of the Criminal Code on minor bullying and Article 335 on offensive act.
The bullying was the latest violence to rock the STPDN known for its reputation to impose military-style discipline on its students.
Last year, the institute which is run by the Ministry of Home Affairs, made headlines after a national private television aired footage of brutality on the campus after the death of Wahyu Hidayat, 20, who was beaten by a group of 20 seniors.
More than 10 students were jailed over the incident. Three years ago, another student Erie Rakhman died after being beaten by seniors.
STPDN head I Nyoman Sumaryadi said the school was collecting information to prepare academic punishment for both Nurmansyah and Imam charged with the latest incident.
Citing an instruction on student relationships at STPDN issued by the home affairs minister in 2003, those involved in fatal violence must be expelled from the institute.
But students found guilty of a minor crime would only get their scores reduced or ranks lowered, he said.
However, it was not clear why Yayan Sofiyan, 20, Dadang Hadisurya, 21, and Hendi Setiyadi, 21 -- all discharged from school in September 2003 over the death of Wahyu, were allowed to resume studies there.
Atong Effendi, 62, the father of Erie, once sued the STPDN for reaccepting seven students who had been expelled from the school over the death of his son.