Killers among us

Killers among us

If nine months of relative peace after the Bali catastrophe
have allowed Indonesians to lapse into a false sense of security,
then the events of the past few days should take them firmly back
to reality: the terrorist game is far from over here. If nothing
else, the two successive bomb blasts that ripped through the
House of Representatives building on Monday should be reminder
enough that even a few moments of laxity could have some dire
consequences.

In Monday's incident, it was fortunate that only a bit of
damage was inflicted on the building and no one was hurt, the
national legislature having gone into recess. The incident,
however, brings to light the inadequate security systems that
prevail, even at the Indonesian national legislature, which is
supposed to be one of the most tightly guarded non-military
venues in the country, it being a frequent target of noisy and
sometimes violent street demonstrations.

And it could have been worse. Police officers said over the
weekend that they had arrested nine suspected members of the
Jamaah Islamiah (JI) regional terrorist organization, which
investigators are holding responsible for last year's Bali
bombings. The arrests, they said, took place in a number of
cities, including Jakarta and Magelang, in Central Java. One of
the key suspects, known as Ikhwanuddin, was reported to have
committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest when he was
about to be questioned while in police custody.

In a related raid in the Central Java capital of Semarang,
officers said they had found and seized more than 1,000 bomb
detonators, almost a ton of potassium chlorate, 350 pounds (160
kg) of TNT, 65 PETN high-explosive detonators, 11 shoulder-
launched rockets, more than 20,000 rounds of ammunition, two M-16
assault rifles, timers as well as maps and documents from the
safehouses of the plotters. Part of that material was taken by
Ikhwanuddin to Jakarta, where the plotters had planned to launch
a number of bomb attacks on public places such as shopping malls
and possibly churches. They apparently had also planned to
assassinate a number of politicians, among them Roy B.B. Janis,
Pramono Anung, Jacob Tobing and J.E. Sahetapy -- all from the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) as well
as a businessman named Ciputra.

At least those are the things that the police have chosen to
make public so far. But what to make of it all? The list of
materials seized by the officers and the names that were
reportedly contained on their "hit list" are certainly enough to
create some alarm among those allegedly targeted for
assassination. All of these developments certainly justify the
terror alert that was issued over the weekend by the National
Police Chief, Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, especially for the residents of
big cities like Jakarta and Semarang, who would be wise to heed
the good general's warning seriously.

However, as we all know that one of the main purposes of
terrorism is to destabilize society by striking fear and panic
into the hearts of the population at large -- by attacking "soft
targets" if necessary -- people living elsewhere had better heed
Gen. Bachtiar's warning as well, especially those living or
staying in towns and cities visited by foreigners, such as
Yogyakarta, Bandung and Medan.

It must be said that for some reason or another many
Indonesians tend to disregard statements and warnings that are
issued by officialdom. It pays to bear in mind, however, that
there are parties out there who do not feel so kindly towards the
present secular-nationalist dominated regime of President
Megawati Soekarnoputri -- or towards the military, for that
matter -- with whom the Free Aceh Movement is currently at war.

All in all, Indonesians should feel free to think of the
terrorist warnings as they see fit. Nevertheless, for the sake of
their own safety and for the well-being of their families and
their communities, wisdom dictates that they not dismiss those
warnings, and that they alert the authorities whenever they
witness any suspicious goings on taking place in their
neighborhoods, like people unloading a ton of chemicals into a
recently rented house. The price of apathy in this matter could
well be another Bali tragedy taking place elsewhere in this
country.