Spotlight on Bullies

As Ade Fauzan lay on his bed on Friday, the three-centimeter gash on his lip and bruising around his left eye were apparent.

Ade, a student at State Senior High School (SMAN) 82 in South Jakarta, was the victim of an alleged beating by 30 older students at the school on Tuesday morning.

The reason for the violent incident? He had walked down a "forbidden" corridor, nicknamed the "Gaza Strip." According to unofficial school tradition, only senior students may use the corridor.

"I had to pass [through the corridor]," Ade said, "because I left a book there during my last exam."

Endang Supardi, the vice principal of SMAN 82, said the school was now investigating three students who could be expelled over the incident.

"We have had several bullying cases at the school. But this is by far the worst," she said.

Ade is still recovering at Pertamina Central Hospital in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, and is still unable to walk steadily after four days of treatment. He said he still had a bad headache and felt disoriented.

Endang, however, said she wished that Ade's parents had not gone to the police to report the matter. "It's possible that it's just a misunderstanding," she said. "We acknowledge seniority at our school and first-year students should respect that."

Seto Mulyadi, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak), said the government had to pay serious attention to school bullying.

"We received 24 cases of violence at schools last semester," he said. "It has reached a very disturbing level and the Education Ministry and agencies should pay more attention to this because it might blow up."

Seto blamed poor supervision at schools and the high level of pressure put on students for the spike in bullying. "Schools put too much pressure on students for their own prestige, when in fact, studying should be for the benefit of children," he said.

In Ade's case, Seto said the principal was ultimately responsible because the assault happened on school grounds.

"It should be properly investigated because what they did was a crime," he said.

Sophia Louretta, a spokeswoman from the Sejiwa nonprofit foundation that works to integrate morals and good behavior at schools, said her organization was concerned about the latest incident. "We are going to investigate and work out a follow-up action to take," she said.

The foundation, she said, had conducted several workshops and seminars on anti-bullying at schools, and SMAN 82 was part of its anti-bullying pilot program, which concluded in May 2008.

A former SMAN 82 student, Armijn, 28, said that while bullying had occurred during his time at the school, it had never gone as far as in Ade's case.

"Beatings were usually carried out by three to four people. Thirty is just too much," he said.