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othing dims the light of hope like the demise of a young person, even more so when that hope is removed so violently, with a foolish and brash act.

This week saw the deaths of two high school students in two separate, senseless brawls in the capital.

SMA 6 high school student Alawy Yusianto Putra, 15, was killed after he was involved in a violent incident with neighboring SMA 70 students in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, on Monday.

With the public still reeling over the shock of such a nonsensical incident, it was rocked once again with the death of Deni Yanuar, 17, a student at SMK Yayasan Karya 66 vocational school in East Jakarta, who was involved in a brawl between students of his school and SMK Kartika Zeni in South Jakarta.

Amid continuing student brawls across Jakarta, with two fatal incidents in a week, the Jakarta Police have visibly ramped up their efforts to eradicate this violent tradition.

Police have arrested a 21-year-old suspect in connection with the death of Alawy. The suspect, a third-year student from SMA 70, was arrested in Yogyakarta. He was reportedly on the run and was about to leave Yogyakarta for somewhere further afield when he was arrested.

Police said they had also arrested at least three suspects in the killing of Deni.

If found guilty under the Criminal Code, the suspects face up to 15 years in prison.

Since these appalling incidents, police have been visibly cracking down on potential brawls across the city.

The Sukmajaya police precinct in Depok, for example, detained more than 50 students from Bogor in West Java and confiscated dozens of sharp weapons that were to be used in a planned attack against a rival school.

Police in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, also arrested 26 students carrying various weapons on Jl. Daan Mogot on Thursday. The students were reportedly on their way to a planned brawl when they were detained.

Increased police patrols and counseling sessions at schools may help curb these incidents in the near future, but they are no resolution to the deeper problem of juvenile thuggery, where hooliganism has become part of the almost boastful behavior of teenagers.

Nor will a way of addressing the root of these brawls be found through extended class hours or extra-curricular
activities.

Juvenile delinquency on such a scale only reflects the culture of violence this nation may be embracing. Teachers, police and particularly parents need to invest more time in rearing teenagers on proper behavior and respect for common decency, especially in terms of rejecting violence and building respect for law.

But sometimes it is difficult to teach our young to respect the law when the wheels of justice seem to move so sluggishly, with its outcome inconsistent. Suspects continue to publicly thumb their noses after conviction.

There seemed to be no remorse from former Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor Miranda S. Goeltom despite having been convicted by the Jakarta Corruption Court to three years’ imprisonment for bribing lawmakers to smooth her election to the central bank post in 2004.

She was all smiles, proud in her attire and stubbornly unremorseful as she appealed her conviction.

Based on judge Gusrizal’s ruling, Miranda is also obliged to pay Rp 100 million (US$10,427) in fines or serve an additional three months in prison.

The sentence is lower than the four-year sentence and Rp 150 million fine sought by prosecutors.

Previously, some 28 lawmakers were convicted of receiving bribes in the form of traveler’s checks worth a total of Rp 20.85 billion, and businesswoman Nunun Nurbaeti, the intermediary in the case, had also been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.

Acting as if she knew something the rest of us did not, Miranda seemed almost gleeful when she said would appeal her case.

In the endless fight to clean the state apparatus, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the National Police were at loggerheads again on Friday as a senior police officer suspected of graft intentionally skipped questioning.

Instead of presenting himself before KPK investigators, Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo, the key suspect in a case centering on the procurement of driving simulators, questioned the KPK’s authority to summon him.

Djoko, a former chief of the National Police Traffic Corps (Korlantas), sent his lawyers to the KPK building to state that the case was being handled by the National Police. This contradicted the National Police’s commitment to fully support the fight against corruption.

Meanwhile, Djoko’s lawyer Juniver Girsang said his client skipped the questioning session because there were still legal problems with the case, contending that there were two institutions that were dealing with the case — the KPK and the National Police — resulting in a confusion of authority in handling the case.

“We are awaiting a Supreme Court decision on which institution has the right to proceed with the case,” Juniver said.

Djoko is alleged to have enriched himself and others by causing state losses worth Rp 190 billion (US$19.81 million) in the procurement of 700 motorcycle and 556 automobile vehicle simulators last year.

Although the KPK was the first institution to take on the case, the National Police insisted on taking control despite a clear stipulation in Law No. 30/2002 on the Corruption Eradication Commission that states other law enforcement institutions must stop investigating a case if the KPK is involved.

— Meidyatama Suryodiningrat