Police Reveal Motives For Bullying Students Of SMPN 1 Tambun Selatan

The atmosphere of SMPN 1 Tambun Selatan, Bekasi Regency after a lot of cases of bullying involved a younger brother and a senior.ANTARA/

BEKASI Regency - The police revealed the motive behind the bullying of six senior students against six of their junior high school students at SMP Negeri 1 Tambun Selatan, Bekasi Regency whose videos were widely circulated on social media.

South Tambun Police Chief, Police Commissioner. Wuryanti explained that the bullying took place because the victims refused the seniors' invitation to gather together.

"The motive is because the victim (class brother) doesn't want to hang out with them," he said in Cikarang, Saturday.

The refusal made the alleged perpetrators force the victim to a hangout next to the Tambun gas station, which later became the location where bullying took place.

In this case, seven underage students have been arrested even though they were not detained. The police also cooperated with the Bekasi Regency Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Service (DP3A) and the Correctional Center (Bapas) in the process of handling this case.

Public Relations of the local school Giyatna said the incident occurred outside the school environment on Wednesday (8/10). The school has summoned students suspected of being the perpetrators for questioning.

He emphasized that this case is not classified as a serious violation such as drugs, murder or criminal acts that require severe sanctions so that schools do not take action on student expenses, according to Permendikbud 44/2023.

However, the school continues to provide guidance so that students do not repeat these actions. "But there are still coaching steps according to school rules violations. Because schools are places of education, not punishment," he said.

Giyatna revealed that before this case was handled by the police, the school had received complaints from the victim's parents. The school had brought together victims and suspected perpetrators and parents in mediation efforts. However, the mediation was fruitless.

"We received information that the victim's parents had made a report to the Police and the Resort Police. If this case cannot be resolved through mediation, then the realm has entered law enforcement," he said.

One of the victim's parents, Atika (39) admitted that she only found out about what happened to her child after a video of bullying circulated in a group of students' parents' conversations.

"We got information last night from Riki's father, he said that my son was bullied by his seniors. I immediately clarified to school until 10 pm and met the perpetrator. He apologized, but we, the victim's parents, couldn't accept it just like that, wanted to follow up," he said.

Atika admitted that she was very surprised when she saw a video showing her child being beaten, kicked and grabbed by her seniors. After the incident, her son became quiet, emotional and reluctant to go to school for fear of being threatened by the perpetrator.

"Since October 8, my son has been quiet, often angry and more closed. It turns out that he was threatened by his seniors if he didn't want to hang out or their activities. Once he didn't want to go to school, but I forced him. I didn't know that he received threats from his seniors," he said.