There’s a certain culture of violence in many Indonesian schools that leads to frequent stories about things like teachers hitting students, students attacking teachers and students getting into massive brawl with students from other schools, sometimes with fatal results.
The reasons behind this are, of course, complex and varied. But, in some cases, simply refusing to get drawn into violence can make kids a target of violence themselves, as illustrated by this recent shocking incident in the capital.
A student from the Malaka Vocational High School in East Jakarta, identified as 17-year-old Fahri, suffered a stab wound in the back yesterday, allegedly because he refused to take part in a tawuran (a term for a specific kind of mass brawl between gangs or groups of students).
East Jakarta Police Chief Suhut said the incident began when three of his classmates from his high school told Fahri and some friends to join a tawuran they were going to that night.
Fahri and his friends refused to join the fight, which led to them being chased by the other three, who were riding on motorcycles. When they got to Jalan Kopi Robusta in Duren Sawit, one of the pursuers got off his bike and stabbed Fahri.
“During the chase somebody started shouting thief, which led to one of the perpetrators jumping from his bike and pulling out a sickle which he used to slash the victim,” Suhut said in a statement released last night and picked up by Kompas.
After that, one of the perpetrators got away but the two others were detained and beaten up by local residents who thought they were thieves due to the previous shouts. Fahri was rushed to a nearby hospital.
Police detained the two apprehended by locals but are still on the hunt for the third suspect involved in the attack.
Ultra-violent tawuran brawls are common in many cities in Indonesia, especially Jakarta. More than 130 students have been killed in fights in and around the capital in the last 5 years. Just last month, a student in South Tangerang had his cheek pierced with a katana during one such brawl.
In a documentary released by Al-Jazeera last year that investigated the culture of violence and tawuran in Jakarta’s schools, some of the children interviewed said that brawling is a rite of passage to manhood, while another told the camera they fight each other “for fun”.
