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."