Sun, 17 Aug 2003

Expatriates hanging in despite fears after Marriott bombing

Megan James, Contributor, Jakarta

Ambulances were still rushing away from the JW Marriott Hotel in Central Jakarta when the first wave of e-mails and phone calls arrived.

"Surely, after this one in Jakarta, you're coming home."

"It's just too dangerous there. Even if you're not worried for yourself, what about the children?"

"Alexander Downer says there's going to be more, get out while you can!"

These were some that our Australian family got; other expats got the same. Most of the 12,000 Australians living in this country are used to it now -- they are those that chose to stay after the Bali bombings, after last year's bomb threats to international schools and who look like staying despite this latest evidence terrorists are more active than ever in Indonesia.

While the impression back home may be that expats here dodge bombs every time they go to the supermarket, for the moment at least, life is going on much as normal.

It's true that there have been about 20 separate Australian Embassy bulletins issued since March this year, delivering terror warnings of one kind or another. But it's also true that Australian and U.S. embassy staff and their families are also staying put following the Aug. 5 attack.

There's a sense, too, that after the controversy in Australia over the lack of foreign affairs warnings prior to the Bali bombings, the Australian government is determined to ensure it cannot be accused of not giving sufficient warning to Australians who might be hurt in a future attack.

Nevertheless, most expatriates here are well aware of the risks. A friend and her one-year-old son were offered evacuation by their employer, but instead they have moved out of their upmarket inner city apartment block and are staying in a house for now.

Apartments like theirs, full of Westerners, could easily be the next targets.

Of course, expats think more carefully about moving around the town. But people are still going out to dinner, the international schools are back on schedule and children's birthday parties are still held, although not at McDonald's.

Most expatriates believe the risk of dying in a terrorist attack here is still low; they have quickly got used to other dangers that come with a city that has no sewerage system, where dengue fever is as common as colds and taxis remove seat belts to improve passenger comfort.

On the most basic level, it seems that like many other communities around the world, people can get used to living with a certain degree of terror.

The positive side of this is that people become more aware in the details of security.

"I try to avoid public places that front directly onto main roads. Without boom gates, there's nothing to stop suicide bombers from getting to the lobby," said one long-term Australian resident here.

"On the other hand, I feel the international schools have done everything they possibly can to tighten security, including three or four-meter 'blast walls' on some campuses. I'd be a fool to say they weren't still targets, but they're much less attractive now."

But for partners and families of professionals, who either cannot or do not want to leave, there is an additional factor that sways judgment, perhaps dangerously.

As another expat mother-of-two put it: "If I go home and settle the kids back into Australian schools, I don't know when it'll be really any safer to come back to Jakarta. Sooner or later, my husband will have to give up his work here if he wants to be with his family.

"But if I stay for my husband's professional life, is that at the expense of the kids' safety?"

With such personal factors confusing the scene, and embassy warnings considered poor guides, many expat families admit good risk assessment is difficult.

"I worry I might be like the frog in the cooking pot," said another expat mother.

"I came to live here when the water was cool, but then came September 11, Bali, Jamaah Islamiyah and now the Marriott. I feel quite calm about staying here, but maybe I'm being boiled without realizing it."