Indonesia, Australia should work together after Bali bombings<\/p>\n
Harry Bhaskara, The Jakarta Post, Berkeley, California, United States<\/p>\n
Indonesia and Australia should avoid falling into the trap of the
\nterrorists who perpetrated the Bali bombings and should work
\ntogether to cool down the rising tension between the two
\ncountries, says an academic.<\/p>\n
\"A rift between Indonesia and Australia is exactly what the
\nterrorists are looking for. Instead of blaming each other over
\npost-bombing measures, the two countries should work together to
\nsort things out instead,\" Darren Zook, a professor at the
\nUniversity of California who lectures on terrorism, said here
\nlast week.<\/p>\n
Shattering international solidarity has always been one of the
\ngoals of terrorists as part of the post-attack aftereffect, he
\nsaid, and that included the Oct. 12 bombings in Indonesia's
\npremier resort island that took over 190 lives, most of them
\nforeigners, especially Australians.<\/p>\n
Tension between Indonesia and Australia has been steadily
\nrising since Oct. 12, particularly after Australian security
\nofficials searched the homes of Indonesian nationals in
\nAustralia.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda told a House of
\nRepresentatives' hearing recently that Indonesia would take
\n\"stronger action\" against its southern neighbor if such raids
\ncontinued.<\/p>\n
The minister, however, did not specify what he meant by
\n\"stronger action\".<\/p>\n
A total of 23 Indonesians were detained and interrogated by
\nmembers of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization
\n(ASIO).<\/p>\n
Zook said that the two governments should quickly heal the
\nrift and added that both non-governmental organizations and the
\nmedia could play a crucial role in avoiding further adverse fall-
\nout from the bombings.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia's growing NGOs,\" he said, \"could take up the
\nchallenge by becoming part of the critical mass in society.\"<\/p>\n
\"Heightened distrust both at the domestic and regional levels
\nare all part of the terrorists' post-attack scenario. They want
\npeople to blame each other, even name-calling,\" said Zook, who
\nhas been closely monitoring the Australian and Indonesian media
\nsince the bombings.<\/p>\n
He noted that the Indonesian media had been rife with
\nconspiracy theories regarding the perpetrators of the bombings,
\nsomething not uncommon in a country where information was not
\nevenly spread. But this needed to be immediately countered by
\ncritical thinking.<\/p>\n
Carolyn Wakeman, another professor at the University of
\nCalifornia at Berkeley, said that the emergence of conspiracy
\ntheories was a phenomenon that was not only confined to countries
\nwhere information was unevenly spread.<\/p>\n
\"Such a phenomenon also exists in the United States,\" she said
\nciting numerous examples, including the John F. Kennedy murder
\nand Cuba.<\/p>\n
And the phenomenon only became worse after Sept. 11, said
\nWakeman, who teaches journalism at the university.<\/p>\n
Zook also noted the dramatic change in the tone of the
\nAustralian media following the Bali bombings.<\/p>\n
Prior to the bombings, there were tinges of anti-Americanism
\nin their reporting of Sept. 11, apart from their sympathy for the
\nAmerican people. But after the Bali bombing, it was all sympathy.<\/p>\n
\"It was an about-face. Prior to the Bali bombings, there was
\nalmost always a hint in their reporting about 9\/11 that the
\nUnited States should somehow take a close look at its foreign
\npolicy, and should get rid of its arrogance,\" Zook said.<\/p>\n
Terrorism has always sought to sow public distrust in society,
\nhe said, citing Al-Qaeda as an example, which he said usually
\nkept silent after an attack in order to create a climate of
\nuncertainty, fear and suspicion.<\/p>\n
Zook said the whole nation should support the Indonesian
\npolice, who were working hard to build up public trust, by, among
\nother things, presenting the suspects to the public and press.<\/p>\n
Asked about the police's preliminary findings linking alleged
\nlocal perpetrators with Al-Qaeda operatives in the region, Zook
\nsaid he thought the police had been moving in the right
\ndirection.<\/p>\n
\"Bali has been a perfect target. It's like a territorial
\nclaim,\" he said referring to the fact that the holiday island is
\npredominantly Hindu.<\/p>\n
The writer is a visiting scholar at the University of California
\nat Berkeley.<\/p>",
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