Bombs, bombers and the bombed

Bombs, bombers and the bombed

By Sidhesh Kaul

JAKARTA (JP): Nothing has changed. Not one bit. Indonesia has
been rocked by bombs of varying types and intensities for the
last five decades and nobody is listening. Social bombs. Economic
bombs. Political bombs. Some were tangible like the July 4th
blast at the Attorney General's Office, while others, cleverly
disguised under the garb of real politic or populist policies,
ticked away silently -- exploding in metered dosages and eroding
away the delicate fabric that makes up a civil society.

Be it social, political, economic or a commonplace stick of
gelignite -- a bomb is a bomb is a bomb. A bomb is a simple
messenger of destruction -- an expression of malevolence in a
short span of time.

Typically a bomb has four essential components: a fuse, the
explosive material itself, the casing and the guiding mechanism.
All four parts are important and their design and construction
depends on what is the underlying purpose of the bomb.

The fuse is important, for this is where the bomb comes to
life. No fuse would mean no detonation and hence no bomb. A bomb
without a fuse is an empty threat. The material of the fuse plays
an important part too. A long fuse that burns violently will
withstand the onslaughts of the harshest interruptions. A short
fuse made from a not so combustible material will leave many
doubts in the mind of the perpetrator and also provide ample
opportunities for someone else to extinguish it. A long fuse
means that the bomb planter has a reasonable chance of getting
away once the fuse is lit.

For example, the long fuse of Indonesia's environmental bomb
was lit a while ago when the New Order's policies placed the
nation's natural resources in the hands of a select few, who then
proceeded to rape them in an unfettered manner for personal gain
and power.

Or the manipulation of government contracts and tenders that
systematically pillaged the country's wealth and established an
era of unprecedented corruption, cronyism and nepotism, which,
despite several loud and vocal protestations emanating from the
current torch bearers of democracy and reform, continues
unabashedly to this day.

But sometimes a long fuse makes the bomber complacent. When
exiling Pramoedya Ananta Toer to a Gulag during his most
productive years (and banning his books in Indonesia and burning
some of his unfinished manuscripts), the New Order must have
rubbed its hands in glee as it mulled over the thought that it
had extinguished the voice of truth for all time to come.

But the stubborn Pramoedya survived the travails and emerged
triumphant in the end. Today his books are published and read in
hundreds of languages in every corner of the literate world,
while the people who exiled him live in shameless ignominy. A
long fuse is never a cause for complacency.

A short fuse is nothing less than suicide for the person who
lights it. Explosion is instantaneous. Seasoned bombers deploy
short-fused bombs on a "remote basis", and it is only the
"we-all-go-down-together" desperados, dim-witted bombers or
highly motivated people of the kamikaze variety (who have a point
to prove and achieve instant martyrdom) who personally light a
short-fused bomb.

Sukarno's short-lived romance with the army, Soeharto's
several experiments at muffling the voice of democracy, B.J.
Habibie's Bank Bali and Timor fiascoes or even Abdurrahman
Wahid's new found "love" for communism -- all glaring examples of
short-fused bombs.

Explosive material is at the heart of any bomb. The type and
quantity of the explosive used depends heavily on the extent of
damage that is wished on the target. The moment the burning fuse
touches the explosive material the blast is triggered.

Sometimes even a small amount of explosive material can have
the same effect as a nuclear bomb of many megatons. Terrorizing
the minority Chinese community in 1998 resulted in chaos all
around -- expatriates, investors and, of course, the Chinese
themselves fled the country and so did reason and stability.

Brutalizing Christians and Muslims in the Malukus recently has
been equally effective.

A bomb's intensity is another issue altogether. Of course the
more explosive material you ignite, the louder and more
destructive is the blast -- but then the bomb becomes heavy and
is difficult to ferry around or camouflage. An elegantly
constructed bomb carries the least possible explosive payload and
does the most damage.

The casing is important too. A well-designed bomb should have
a casing that easily disintegrates into many sharp fragments upon
explosion and sends tiny pieces of deadly shrapnel flying around
for good measure as well, destroying whatever lies in their path
blindly and mercilessly.

If the casing is made up of indestructible material then the
whole purpose of the bomb is defeated. In a civil society a
cocktail of rules, regulations, just governance and
representation; a sound, incorruptible and transparent judicial,
executive and bureaucratic infrastructure; and a fanatical
obsession with egalitarianism, national pride, communal
responsibility and the tyranny of law provide the protection
against explosives of any kind.

Explosive material that has been shrouded in a strong and
protective casing is bound to end up as a damp squib.

Finally, without an effective guidance mechanism a bomb is
ineffective and either does little or no damage or destroys
wantonly. But there are times when the target is so widespread
that accuracy is unimportant and the lack of it is made up for by
the sheer intensity of the blast.

The bomb unleashed on ordinary Indonesians by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a prime example. The harsh
macroeconomic policies imposed by the IMF upon the Indonesian
government in exchange for much needed aid has left the country
in ruins. The IMF's stand is like that of the proverbial ostrich
that buries its head in the sand when the time of reckoning draws
near.

Other than its standard dose of macroeconomic remedies and
"cure all" advice on structural changes, the IMF refuses to
acknowledge the fact that Indonesia does not have the capacity to
repay fully and that their guidelines have driven the government
to embark on a path that effectively passes the buck of the
economic woes to ordinary Indonesians. This is like igniting a
bomb in an ammunition dump.

These four parts of the bomb -- the fuse, the casing, the
explosive material and the guidance mechanism -- in the hands of
a well-trained bomber, work in harmony and with devastating
effect. A good bombmaker designs the bomb according to the size,
strength and location of the target and then patiently waits for
the ideal time to light the fuse.

A bomb either made or deployed in a hurry is not effective --
good bombmakers know that. Although a weapon of destruction,
there are several uses for a bomb. You can use it to quarry, to
wipe out a city, terrorize an entire population or even stun fish
in the rivers if you are tired of waiting at the end of a fishing
line.

Ordinary Indonesians have witnessed and experienced a variety
of bombs since Independence but now their patience is being
tested to the limit. What the perpetrators fail to realize is
that their ultimate targets are becoming fissile and combustible
themselves.

The writer is a commentator on economic and political affairs
based in Jakarta.