Suspected Punk Badly Beaten in Aceh Raid

BY NURDIN HASAN (THE JAKARTA GLOBE)
Banda Aceh, TAG – A 16-year-old boy was rushed to the hospital after being beaten by an angry mob in a raid on a group of teenagers suspected of having an orgy outside a village in Aceh on Wednesday.

Arif, a second-year student from a senior high school in Banda Aceh, was sent to Meuraxa Hospital in the provincial capital in a critical condition after police managed to save him from the mob of villagers.

Two other teenagers, school dropouts Zaini, 17, and Rizki, 16, were less severely injured in the attack, while more than two dozen other teenagers believed to have participated in the orgy managed to flee the scene.

Arif’s condition was reportedly improving on Thursday after receiving medical treatment, but he still had bumps and bruises all over his body and was nursing a broken hand.

The raid, involving hundreds of residents, took place in a paddy field outside Gani village in Ingin Jaya subdistrict, Aceh Besar, at about 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Ingin Jaya Police chief Insp. Ibrahim Prades said on Thursday.

“The residents conducted the raid because they were upset with those strongly believed to be engaging in sordid activities with six women. But those women escaped, along with 20 other [male] teenagers,” Ibrahim said.

“The residents said the teenagers organized an orgy at the location. As evidence, they found some clothes left at the scene,” he added.

One of the raid’s participants, who refused to be named, said some of the teenagers were only wearing underwear when the mob set upon them.

“They’ve hung out here too often. They smudge our village with their indecent activities,” he said.

Ibrahim said one of the teenagers was slashed by a cleaver, but managed to escape. He also said the villagers hunted for the alleged orgy participants for some time, but failed to capture more.

The police chief said based on the way the youths dressed, the villagers suspected they were punks.

“But we cannot actually say they are punks. They’re just trying to be punks.”[]