Repeated Bullying Occurs, Indonesia Emergency Child Violence

JAKARTA The world of Indonesian education is said to have experienced a bullying emergency. In the last few months, people have seen cases of bullying that ended tragically until they died.

The incidence of cases of bullying is increasingly loud. Recently, the explosion incident at SMA Negeri 72 Jakarta was thought to have started with bullying that befell students, who are now the perpetrators of the explosion.

After that, there was a case of alleged bullying of students in grade 3 SDN in Wonosobo, Central Java. Then the public was also surprised by the case of bullying against students of SMPN 19 South Tangerang City. The student with the initials MH (13) died after becoming a victim of bullying by his schoolmate.

The recent series of bullying cases have attracted the attention of many parties. President Prabowo Subianto responded to various cases of bullying of students that occurred in the school environment and asked for this to be overcome.

Meanwhile, education observer Ina Liem said, the number of cases of bullying was due to the failure of adults to carry out state obligations.

The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) recorded 1,052 cases of child abuses received during 2025. Meanwhile, Ina Liem said that so far this year there were 25 cases of suicide suspected of being due to bullying.

Cases of bullying in Indonesia have indeed increased significantly from year to year. KPAI noted that in 2020 there were 91 cases of bullying that they received, then increased to 142 in the following year. In 2022 and 2023, 194 and 285 cases were recorded, respectively. Then in 2024 the figure jumped drastically to 573 cases.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) recorded 42 percent of violence in schools was sexual violence and 31 percent was bullying.

Other institutions, SAFEnet, also reported a trend of crystal bullying or cyber bullying. In the first quarter of 2024, cases of cyber bullying increased by more than 100% compared to the previous year, namely 480 cases.

This figure, said Ina Liem, shows that the problem of bullying is no longer a minor problem, but a national emergency.

"This is no longer a naughty problem at school, it is a failure of adults to carry out their nereka obligations," said Ina Liem.

"Let us emphasize that the most responsible are regional heads, because schools, task forces, education offices are under them," he added.

Since 2023, the government has issued regulation of Permendikbud, Research and Technology Number 46 concerning the Prevention and Handling of Violence in the Education Unit.

In this regulation, it is stated the obligation of each education unit, starting from PAUD, SD, SMP, SMA, and SMK to form a Violence Prevention and Handling Team (TPPK) in order to prevent and deal with violence in the school environment.

"The problem is not in the regulations, but this rule is not implemented. Many schools do not have a task force, reports are covered up for the image of the region and schools, the complainant is intimidated. The regional head does not supervise the head of the office and the principal," said Ina Liem.

Similarly, the Chairperson of the Indonesian Child Protection Agency (LPAI) Seto Mulyadi assessed the main causes of rampant cases of bullying due to omission and indifference from parents, teachers, to the regional education office.

"But some cases that we then also handled, we went to school, it tended to be due to omission. Some parents even said, 'ah, the names are also children', 'don't be too forgetful', have a little fight, it's a little ridiculed, that's okay,' said the man who is familiarly called Kak Seto.

These factors, said Kak Seto, make bullying more fertile because of indifference to others. Supposedly, incidents of violence did not occur in the school environment because it was a place of protection and affection.

"There is a rule that the Child Protection Law is strong in regulating children's rights that must be protected from various acts of violence in the school environment," he said.

Minister of Elementary and Secondary Education (Mendikdasmen) Abdul Mu'ti stated that the government is preparing to improve regulations related to the prevention of violence in the school environment. He assessed that existing regulations still need to be refined so that they are more humane, comprehensive, and participatory.

However, Ina Liem did not agree with the discourse. He was worried that it would weaken the protection of children. Currently, he said, it was not the time to soften regulations, but to enforce existing regulations.

"What we need is a regional head who ensures the task force runs in all schools, strict supervision of Kadin and Kepsek. Strict sanctions for schools that ignore reports of violence, full protection for whistleblowers, not silencing," he said.