July 16, 2026
JAKARTA – A 17-year-old student allegedly built and detonated a homemade bomb at an Islamic high school in Padang, West Sumatra, on Tuesday in what police believe was an act of revenge for years of bullying, renewing concerns over Indonesia’s persistent school bullying problem.
The bomb exploded at around 10:30 a.m. during recess outside the student’s classroom at MAN 3 Padang Islamic senior high school, triggering panic among students and teachers. No injuries were reported.
School officials immediately notified authorities, who dispatched a Gegana bomb disposal unit and officers from Densus 88 counterterrorism squad, to secure the school and search for additional explosive devices.
During a search of the student’s classroom, investigators recovered three undetonated improvised explosive devices from his backpack, firecrackers, a knife, arrows, marbles, nuts and other materials that police believe were intended for use as shrapnel.
The suspect, identified only as R, was taken into custody shortly after the explosion.
Padang Police chief Sr. Comr. Apri Wibowo said investigators believe the 17-year-old had assembled the explosives to target classmates he claimed had bullied him for years.
“R placed one homemade explosive device on a table outside his classroom. The table was positioned beside the classroom wall, close to the seat of the classmate believed to have been the intended target,” Apri said on Tuesday as quoted by Kompas.com.
The device detonated but caused only minor damage and no one was injured in the incident, he said.
Preliminary questioning found that R told investigators he had been bullied continuously since elementary school, with the alleged abuse persisting into his final year at the school.
Densus 88 counterterrorism unit spokesperson Sr. Comr. Mayndra Eka Wardhana said preliminary investigations found that R had built the homemade explosives himself at his home without his parents’ knowledge.
“R admitted to joining several online groups that discussed bomb-making and had spent the past four months studying and assembling explosive devices in his bedroom,” he said.
R also told investigators that he was inspired by a bombing incident at SMA 72 Jakarta state senior high school in North Jakarta last year, in which a student who was allegedly bullied by classmates detonated several homemade bombs at the school, injuring around 60 people.
Bullying and school violence remain persistent problems in Indonesia despite government efforts to address the issue.
Data from the Network for Education Watch Indonesia (JPPI) show that reported cases of violence in educational institutions have continued to rise in recent years. The JPPI recorded 614 cases of school violence nationwide last year, an 11 percent increase from 573 cases in 2024 and more than double the 285 cases reported in 2023.
A 2018 survey by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) found that 41percent of Indonesian students reported experiencing bullying at least several times a month, nearly twice the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average of 23 percent among member countries.
Recent cases have highlighted the severity of the problem. On June 24, a 16-year-old student in Lumajang, East Java, died after allegedly being bullied and assaulted by a classmate.
In Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, police are also investigating a serious bullying case at an Islamic boarding school that left one student dead and two others seriously injured. The victims were allegedly set on fire by senior students in November last year after reporting alleged bullying to school authorities.
In 2023, the government issued an anti-bullying regulation in response to the rising cases of school violence. The policy requires all educational institutions to establish Violence Prevention and Handling Teams (TPPKs) to safeguard students.
However, observers say implementation has remained weak, with many teachers lacking adequate training to identify early signs of bullying or to effectively carry out prevention measures. (nal)