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Online argument leads to fatal student duel in Bogor
A police statement said that one student was killed in a duel with another student following a heated argument between the two on Facebook.
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Illustration of a crime scene (Shutterstock/Nic Neufeld)
A
senior high school student was killed on the evening of March 14 in a duel with another student that involved sickles in Bogor, West Java, after a heated argument on Facebook.
The 17-year-old student, identified as AH, died from head wounds he sustained in a duel with MR, 14, a student at a different school.
In a press release made available to The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, Bogor Police crimes division head Adj. Comr. Benny Cahyadi said that MR was under arrest. The police had also confiscated the sickles used during the duel and AH's clothes as evidence.
Benny said MR and AH had not known or met each other prior to the duel, which took place in Ciampea. The two had met on Facebook, where they became embroiled in a heated argument.
"The two, the victim and the perpetrator, taunted each other on social media […] They agreed to a one-on-one duel witnessed by their supporters,” said Benny.
The two students had arrived with their friends at the agreed location of the duel in Ciampea, but the duel only involved AH and MR.
The two started fighting immediately using the sickles they had brought, and MR sustained open wounds to his shoulder and mouth. AH received wounds to his left hand and a fatal blow to the head, which killed him at the location.
Benny stressed that the duel was motivated by a personal grudge resulting from the online argument, and was unconnected to rival school gangs, which was common in Bogor.
In connection with the widespread duels among students that often resulted in fatalities, Benny appealed to parents to supervise their children closely, in particular by not allowing them to go out after dark.
At the end of 2017, Ahmad Raih Syahdan, 16, was killed in a fight that involved 14 junior high school students armed with machetes at a rubber plantation in Rumpin, Bogor. Ahmad died from blood loss at a local puskesmas (community health center) after sustaining wounds to his stomach, back and right arm.
In a separate incident, 15-year-old Hilarius Christian Event Raharjo, who attended SMA Budi Mulia senior high school, was killed in a duel with a student of another school.
The incident became publicly known last September when Hilarus’ mother, Maria Agnes Tri Darmawati, shared the story on Facebook and asked for President Joko Widodo's help in seeking justice for her son. (gis)
