The teenagers, only identified by their initials as I (18), S (17), A (19), and BS (17), are currently under police custody, Head of the East Jakarta Metropolitan Police's Criminal Investigation Department Adjunct Sen. Coms. Hery Purnomo stated on Saturday.
"The teenagers brought the machetes to be used for a street fight," he remarked, adding that the police officers had apprehended them during their routine operation to secure the enactment of the large-scale social restriction measures.
Purnomo noted that police officers had spotted the teens preparing for a teenage brawl, known as "tawuran" in Indonesian, and stopped them and confiscated their machetes, including double razor-sharp ones.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has officially imposed large-scale social restrictions and distancing measures in the capital city on April 10. The restrictions will be in place for 14 days, during which poor and vulnerable families will receive aid.
However, far before the imposition of the social restriction policy in Jakarta, schools and universities in the capital city and its outskirts have sent their students home and implemented the learning-from-home policy by providing an online learning service.
The student and teenage brawls have become a grave problem in Jakarta and several other major cities in Indonesia.
The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) recorded that some 202 children were involved in legal cases owing to their involvement in brawls in the span of two years until 2018, including 74 cases of children found to be in possession of sharp weapons.
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Translator: Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Sri Haryati
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