Police in Southeast Sulawesi have arrested 11 suspects after a clash at Kendari's Haluoleo University that killed two students, an officer said on Sunday.
"Initially we arrested 38 people on suspicion of inciting violence, when we were patrolling on Friday," Kendari Police Adj. Chief Comr. Yuyun Yudhantara said. Police said some of those arrested were carrying machetes, knives, bows and arrows and other weapons.
"We brought them to the Kendari police headquarters for investigation and found only 11 of the 38 could be detained," he said. "We are further investigating those 11, and if they are found to have incited violence, we will move to the next legal step."
The detainees were arrested during an operation in which a joint force of police and military stopped and searched road users in the area of the clash, he said.
Yuyun did not say if all the detainees were students. The clash on Thursday killed two students, identified as La Ode Muhammah Hijra, 23, and Udin, 21.
Provincial legislative council (DPRD) member Nursalam Lada condemned the clash. "The incident that claimed two lives has tarnished the Kendari peace declaration of the same day, and we are really concerned about what happened," Nursalam said.
He said the students should have promoted the peace declaration signed at their university just hours earlier. "We deeply deplore such a bloody incident. The very students who should have passed on the peace declaration to the wider community were actually involved in the clash," Nursalam said.
The conflict broke out only a few hours after the Indonesian representative at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and local government officials visited the university to launch the Kendari Declaration.
The declaration calls for peace and recognition of diverse ethnicities and culture in Indonesia. The Kendari Declaration was signed jointly by Indonesian National Committee for Unesco chairman Arief Rahman and Haluoleo University rector Usman Rianse.
After the signing, the text of the declaration was read out in unison by representatives of key ethnic communities in Indonesia. Ethnic groups and areas represented included Buton, Tolaki, Toraja, Bajo, Jawa, Papua, East Nusa Tenggara, Bima, Madura, Sunda, Bali, Muna, Manado, Aceh, Makassar, Batak, Banten, Bugis, Flores, Padang, Aceh, Dayak, Kutai, Manado and Ambon.
The declaration was made in the framework of an international educational workshop called "Celebrating Diversity, Living Harmony" hosted by Haluoleo University from Thursday through Saturday.
The workshop was also attended by participants from Singapore, Brunei Darussalam and East Timor. The cause of Thursday's clash remained unclear.
Southeast Sulawesi governor Nur Alam called for stern measures against the perpetrators of the clash that had sullied the international workshop.
"As governor, I can issue the order to shoot on sight if perpetrators of violence ruin the image of the province," he said as he officially closed the harmony-themed workshop. The governor insisted the clash was not related to the workshop.