Father injured, but baby boy born to victims of Thursday's explosion

Father injured, but baby boy born to victims of Thursday's explosion

Leony Aurora , The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Lila, 23, gave birth a week earlier than expected due to the
trauma of the Australian Embassy bomb blast and was surprised to
find out that the newborn baby was a boy.

"The doctor said that my baby was a girl from the last two
USGs," she said over the weekend.

The 3.4-kilogram infant has thick, jet-black hair and soft
eyebrows.

"Iwan (the baby's father) also has black hair and thick
eyebrows," said Umi Gusrun, Iwan Setiawan's mother, who came to
the capital from Brebes, Central Java, upon discovering that her
son was injured in the explosion.

The 29-year-old man lost his right eye after a metal fragment
pierced his eye in the blast, which killed nine people and
wounded 182 others. Miraculously, Lila received only minor
injuries -- small scratches on her forehead and back.

Iwan was taking his wife who was almost nine-months pregnant
by motorcycle for a regular check-up in Menteng, Central Jakarta.
The couple left their rented house in Pedurenan Mesjid in
Kuningan and were passing Plaza 89, opposite the embassy when "a
huge fire shot up".

Iwan stepped on the brake immediately. "It was amazing that we
were not thrown off the motorcycle due to the blast," said Lila.

The father of two tried to ride on to get them to safety but
stopped out of pain. "I managed to get a man to drive him on his
motorcycle to Aini Eye Hospital," Lila said. "I ran behind them."

Lila waited for her husband's eye surgery to be completed
before going to Budi Kemuliaan Maternity Hospital in Central
Jakarta at 10:30 p.m. Three hours later, in the wee hours of
Friday, the day after the explosion, her baby was delivered.

She insisted on being discharged on Friday evening.

"If both of us collapse, who will take care of things?" she
said matter-of-factly.

The couple had not had even the energy to discuss a name for
their newborn. "A name influences the character. We need to
decide it carefully," said Lila.

Her own name is Chalyla Seroja Kemangrita Carolina Daulay. "It
means 'once the sail unfurls, do not let it furl'," she said. "Be
strong and don't give up."

With a new baby to take care of aside from their first child
-- two-year-old Sarah -- and the recent tragedy, Iwan and Lila,
who were married in 2001 after almost six years of courtship,
knew there would be storms ahead.

Lila works at a small travel agency in Manggarai, South
Jakarta, while Iwan has been looking for a job since his contract
with BII bank was not extended in April.

"I think I will cut my maternity leave to only one month,"
said Lila. She receives commission from the plane tickets that
she sells, so staying home will mean less money.

Iwan, a graduate of the Informatics and Computer Management
Institute (STMIK) Gunadarma in Depok, is in his final stages of
recruitment with Bank Danamon.

"They (the bank) said that he needed only to take the medical
check-up," said Lila sadly. Iwan will have to stay for another
three weeks in the hospital and he has now lost his right eye.
"How would he pass?"

Both Lila and Umi pleaded for help, not for money, but for a
job. "There are millions of people in Indonesia, surely one of
them can give a job to my son," said Umi.

Lila wondered what the government was going to do about it.
"Their (government's) negligence was partly the cause of the
bombing," she said. "They should provide a job for my now-
disabled husband."

For the time being, Lila and her extended family are keeping
their spirits up with the presence of the newborn.

"I think the baby was intentionally turned into a boy," said
Lila jokingly. "He will replace the current National Police
chief ... I think my son will do a better job of protecting the
country."