Police to guard Makassar campuses after clashes
Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar | Headlines | Sun, October 14 2012, 9:51 AM
Paper Edition | Page: 2
In a preventative move the South Sulawesi police have agreed to station 10-member police teams at university campuses in Makassar, after an incident left two dead last week, a high-ranking officer said Saturday.
South Sulawesi Police chief Insp. Gen. Mudji Waluyo said that the deployment of police officers at campuses would start on Monday.
Mudji disclosed the plan after a closed-door meeting, with representatives from universities throughout Makassar, at the Police headquarters on Saturday.
A clash between students of the Technical and Art and Design Schools broke out at the Makassar State University (UNM) campus in Parangtambung, Makassar on Thursday.
The deceased were identified as Haryanto, from the automotive class of 2008 and Rizki Munandar, a former student of the same department.
Rizki dropped out of university after failing to achieve the minimum student performance index during the first four semesters. Rizki was last listed as a student at the Makassar Islamic University.
Mudji said that the deployment of police officers at the campuses was in response to requests from university representatives at the meeting.
He denied that such deployment would violate academic freedom as there is no regulation that bans police officers from being on duty at campus compounds.
“The objective is to help facilitate the process of teaching and learning activities,” Mudji said.
The number of police officers stationed at the UNM campus will be bigger. Up to 200 officers had been stationed at the campus as of Saturday.
During a combing of the area on Saturday police discovered one ounce of marijuana, a day earlier the police discovered a further 2.2 kilograms of marijuana.
The police also unearthed two home-made rifles with eight bullets, two catapults, nine arrows and an iron pipe.
In response to the discovery of the marijuana and weapons at the campus, Mudji said that the issue was still under investigation.
The police are working closely with the UNM to uncover those associated with the banned goods.
The police are also interested in learning more about certain content found on a laptop discovered at the Arts and Design School on Friday.
“We will search for their owners together with their networks,” Mudji said.
Anybody proven guilty of the banned goods, especially the weapons and bullets, will be charged under Article 2 e 1 of Law No. 12/1951 on the ownership of illegal weapons.
