Indonesian's risk perception towards terrorist's bomb attack

Indonesian's risk perception towards terrorist's bomb attack
JP/6/WIWAN

Indonesian's risk perception towards terrorist's bomb attack

Antonius Wiwan Koban
Jakarta

"Serious security threats from terrorists to all Americans &
Westerners in Indonesia. Avoid visiting western country
embassies, western pedestrians...." Foreign residents and
tourists in Indonesia, especially in Jakarta, are very familiar
with that kind of warning message which is circulated officially
by the embassies or unofficially from person to person via short
message services (SMSs) or e-mails and mailing lists.

That sentence is a kind of current warning message targeted to
foreigners living in Indonesia. But how about the Indonesian
people themselves? Are they also aware about the same threats in
the same areas? What is their perception about security threats
in Indonesia? How do Indonesians perceive the probability of
becoming the victims of terrorist attacks?

To mention the terrorists' bomb attack incidents, as we
notice, the "top five" bomb attacks during the years 2000-2005 in
Jakarta and Bali have killed hundreds of people and injured many
more.

Terror bomb attacks could occur at any time and could be
directed at any location. For most people, they never know when
and where the incident might take place. It is a probability.
Perception about the probability of something we do not want to
happen but might happen is a risk perception.

Risk perception towards the terrorists' bomb attacks, as the
other risk perception in general, can be seen as two components.

The first one is the perception about the probability of the
severity of the incident. The second one is the perception about
the probability of that risk that would really happen. It is
about perceived vulnerability. Each of us has our own self-
vulnerability risk perception.

A rough description about how Indonesian citizens perceive the
probability of terrorist's bomb attacks is reflected in the
security check procedures in public buildings such as office
buildings, hotels and shopping centers in Jakarta.

Firstly, let us see risk perception in the physical sense. At
a glance, most of those public buildings in Jakarta now have been
equipped with security check portals. When they were built, and
how they were built reflected the dynamics of the building's
management risk perception. Earlier it was built as an early
warning system to increase the awareness of the terrorist
attacks.

Some portals have been changed from temporary to permanent. If
budget constraints do not matter, in the case of a temporary
security check portal, it can be suspected that terrorist attacks
are perceived as temporary threats. Or maybe it was built just as
formality on orders or instructions without any risk awareness
consideration. Recently in Jakarta, we see that most buildings
treat their security portals as temporary constructions.

Secondly, then let us see risk perception as reflected in the
mental way. As a routine on a daily basis activity, security
check procedures might be done slightly. It is a very usual scene
that we see the security crews just slightly check visitor's
stuff. The potential cognitive error is the procedures to screen
any dangerous stuff, since so far they find nothing, might be
taken as "looking for anything and guessing it is impossible to
find". That way can lead them to underestimate risk perception.

As bomb attacks increase, levels of risk perception about
probability of being attacked by terrorists' bombings should be
increased too. But people often have optimistic biases about
self-vulnerability. When judged about their own chances, people
claim that they are less likely to be affected or to become
victims than others.

Indonesians feel helpless and vulnerable because the
uncertainty of the bombers' targets. Because of the bomb
incidents in Indonesia look like there is no special target,
which means the bombers did not care about whom their bombs
victimized, so most people think there is no difference whether
they think seriously about their probability to be under attack
or do not think about it.

Indonesians sometimes also have become so accustomed to
helplessness that it leads them to underestimate risk perception.
The Indonesian lay people often think that all of the bomb attack
threats are out of their personal control. Then they would agree
that it is all about faith, "being under attack or to die is
fate. If God wishes us to die, then we will die. Only God knows
when, where and to whom it would happen".

Unfortunately, this belief sometimes turns out to be a
justification that the risk is uncontrollable so any effort to
prevent it would be useless. To avoid this, self-efficacy should
be increased, for example, by having proper equipment and by
having proper early warning in structural levels and also by
undertaking appropriate emergency responses exercised on a
personal level.

The same belief, fortunately, also can be a good entry point
to educate the public on risk awareness. The critical point is if
people believe that no one will know the time, place and the
target of the bomb attack, they should always be aware of the
uncertainty. That is the very meaning of life, it is a risk.

The writer is a Social Researcher at the Indonesian Institute
in Jakarta. He can be reached at antonwk@cbn.net.id