The "Jeres" Tradition Of Triggering Student Beating At SMAN 70 South Jakarta

Cigarettes resulting from Kudus Customs and Excise Enforcement, Central Java. ANTARA/HO-Humas KPBBC Kds

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Indonesian Child Protection Agency (LPAI) Seto Mulyadi or familiarly called Kak Seto revealed the "jeres" tradition as the reason behind the case of beating students at SMAN 70 South Jakarta.

"We met the five children of the perpetrators of the bullying case at SMAN 70, basically they were very sorry and asked that the jeres tradition could be stopped because they thought that everything that was not right could be beaten," said Kak Seto when met at the South Jakarta Metro Police, Friday, July 8.

Kak Seto asked that this "jeres" tradition be stopped because it has been carried out for generations so that it can cause many victims of violence.

Meanwhile, Kak Seto explained that the "jeres" tradition is a tradition where juniors promise 20 gathering activities.

If the number of these groups does not reach the target, then a beating is carried out because juniors are considered committed to the tradition.

Kak Seto also asked the Education Office to be more firm against the tradition of violence in schools by creating child-friendly schools.

In addition, Kak Seto regretted the future of the five perpetrators because some had been accepted at the well-known Indonesian PTN. Therefore, the chairman of LPAI proposed mediation based on the Criminal Justice System Law.

The hope is that Kak Seto wants justice for the suspects who are still teenagers, especially the DPO whose faces were scattered even though their identities should be protected.

"Actually, if it is classified as something's child, it must be protected by identity and so on. Of course we take an approach in accordance with the mandate of child protection," he said.