A scuffle between students broke out in Wamena – Jubi
Wamena, Jubi – A scuffle between students broke out in Wamena at around 11:00 during a cultural carnival organized by Jayawijaya Regional Government on Monday in commemorating the 70th Indonesian Independence Day on Monday (10/8/2015).
The incident started while the students of each school who waited for their turn in the carnival attraction gathered in Yapis Wamena High School quarter, then without knowing who’ve been started, the students were involved into a fight and attacked each other. Moreover, to participate in the parade or carnival, many of them carried bows and arrows. So they were not only throwing the stones but also bringing up the arrows.
Jubi observed there is dozens of pupils were injured on the chest, head, hands and legs due to thrown stones in the incident. Even a pupil of SMAN 1 named Nelson Tabuni must undergo the intensive treatment in hospital since being hit by arrow on his chest.
Tabuni was previously treated in Wamena Hospital before finally referred to Jayapura and evacuated by MAF plane due to serious injury. All treatment cost was covered by the local government.
“The victim is still secured, but he’s in critical condition at that moment so that he need to be strictly observed and medical apparatus installed in his chest,” a doctor told reporters. Despites some injuries victims of stones and arrows thrown, some vehicles and building are also damaged.
Meanwhile, Jayawijaya Police Deputy Commissionaire Police Fransiskus Elosak admitted the fight incident between high school pupils was triggered by a dipute between the pupils of high schools in Wamena City. When the cultural parade was on going, both junior high schools were gathered in one location and a dispute could not be avoided. “The incident was actually started from yesterday, and the police have scattered them but the pupils used this moment to attack each other and involved some other schools such as SMA Yapis, SMA PGRI and SMA Negeri I Wamena. We are still investigating the trigger,” said the deputy chief.
In order to reduce the tension for the next day, the deputy chief said the police have localized the pupils by separating those who involved in the dispute and assigned the police officers to guard in each school. “We will attempt to localize and meet with the relatives in order to provide understanding towards families and school authorities,” said Elosak.
Meanwhile, Jayawijaya Regent John Wempi Wetipo firmly confirmed the incident was occurred due to misunderstanding involved the junior high school pupils of SMP 1 and SMP 2 that often involved in the dispute for long time, but it spread to SMA Yapis and SMA Negeri 1. “But I feel grateful because everything was handled smoothly. The police must know who’s the actor of this incident, but I think we do not need to exaggerate this problem, because it’s just occurred after they were gathered in one location and at the that time they were taunted each other. The police would investigate this case carefully,” the regent said. (Islami/rom)
