Minister Ready To Follow VP'S Suggestions To Fight Mugging

Bandung, Feb 28 (Antara) - Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Anies Baswedan said he was ready to follow Vice-President Jusuf Kalla's instruction to study the phenomenon of rampant mugging among youths. "I will look into the matter from an educational aspect. The education of a youth happens in three places: school, house, and surroundings. We have to cooperate with parents and with people in their surroundings," Minister Baswedan said here on Saturday. Earlier, Vice-President Jusuf Kalla observed there could be something wrong with the Indonesian education system that is not able to prevent youths from committing mugging. Minister Baswedan noted that violence among youths could be the result of the huge presence of video games. "We have to study the types of video games that contain violence and are massive in circulation," he added. According to the minister, because of constantly playing violent video games, children are not able to differentiate between virtual violence and real violence. "We, parents, teachers, and our surroundings, have to control this," he pointed out. The minister has asked school principals, homeroom teachers, and preceptors to be sharp and firm while dealing with violence. "The government will support school principals who take stern actions against violence. Should a problem emerge, it must be dealt together with parents because it is the parents who handle youths at home," he remarked. He stated that his side has also created a special plan to address the problem and instructed schools to invite parents to help prevent their children from committing violence such as mugging. The Vice-President said in Makassar that he has asked Minister Baswedan to study the violent phenomenon of mugging among youths. "I have just told Pak (Mr) Baswedan to immediately conduct a study on the causes (of mugging) and to find out a way out," Kalla revealed in Makassar on Friday. On Tuesday, an angry mob set alight an alleged motorcycle thief in Pondok Aren, South Tangerang, Banten, south of Jakarta, according to Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Martinus Sitompul. "There were four robbers, but only one was caught by a mob that took the law into their own hands and killed the thief," Martinus added. Martinus stated the incident occurred at 1 a.m. on Tuesday when four individuals were allegedly on the prowl to steal motorcycles. The gang attacked Wahyu Hidayat, 21, and his friend, Sri Astriani, 19, while they were traveling on a motorcycle. One of the robbers brandished a sword, but Sri managed to snatch the weapon while Wahyu screamed for help, attracting passersby. The four robbers were chased by the mob. However, one of them was caught and set on fire in the street.