Life after the Bali bombing

Life after the Bali bombing

B. Hari Juliawan, Student Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta

It has been nearly a week since the bombing in Legian took
place. The debate about the existence of terrorist groups has
been proved ridiculous. Bombs have exploded many times in this
archipelago, threatening innocent people. A legislator from the
National Awakening Party (PKB) recently stated that there were 20
unsolved bombing cases. Perpetrators are still roaming freely in
this country spreading further threats.

However, government officials, one of whom is the vice
president, failed to acknowledge the seriousness of the threat
despite repeated warnings from various sources including friendly
states. Instead, some politicians reportedly were courting some
groups whose language has been far from promoting peace, and even
defending such groups under the guise of nationalism or religious
solidarity. To name the perpetrators as terrorists or a group of
bad persons is a game of semantics. Acknowledging the existence
of terrorists in this country is a matter of stating the obvious.

Keeping in mind the three societal powers that give shape to
daily life, i.e. state, business, and community, since Sept. 11
last year and more accurately since the Legian attack, we may
have to add terrorism as the fourth power. It has the rules and
resources by which the lives of many people worldwide are
exercised. The existence of high explosives such as those that
went off in Bali in our midst clearly prompts us to define new
terms for security in public places.

The police nationwide are reportedly bracing themselves for
more similar incidents, while the tourism industry is preparing
for the worst in the coming months or years. The government is
reportedly trying to speed up the process on its anti-terrorism
bills. As for the fear generated among the people, this perhaps
is more the case for foreign tourists but locals are not
excluded.

Although with less devastation, bomb explosions before Bali
targeted locals. And if those terrorists did not think twice
before killing many foreign nationals, why on earth they should
not kill Indonesian nationals if this would serve their cause.

Secondly, the existence of local terrorist groups mirrors
another local failure, that of the state. During the past three
years, Indonesia has joined the community of "pariah states". The
economic crisis is still strongly felt. Conflicts have thrived in
far flung regions as well as in centers of power in Java with the
central government unable to cope.

The government cannot provide a basic feeling of security to
its people, materially and emotionally. Public services are
deteriorating, leaving communities on their own to make do with
the continuing hardship. Meanwhile, turning a deaf ear to the cry
of the people, high-ranking government officials in Jakarta as
well as in other provinces shower themselves with generous
revenues and luxury gifts from either private or state companies.

Normally we would think that the state with all its resources
is there to sustain the survival of the community. And different
groups would pursue their interests through democratic means by,
for example, participating in elections. Obviously it has not
been the case with Indonesia.

Legislators are only attracted to improving their lifestyles
and fattening their bank accounts. The state has ceased to be the
agent of welfare and the servant of the community, and instead it
is driven by profit seeking. The election of Sutiyoso as
Jakarta's governor is the most recent example of how politics has
increasingly sidelined the public. Politics becomes the art of
endless grabbing.

The profit seeking orientation of the state effectively annuls
conventions and agreements once reached to make living together
possible. The state has been separated from its spouse, the
community. Thus it is no longer relevant to put hope on
democratic means to pursue communal interests.

The crack in the platform of living together opens up new
territory for conflict mongering activities. They offer immediate
political articulation and stronger bargaining position vis a vis
the state and other groups in society. Poor law enforcement and
the fractured nature of Indonesian politics make this even more
possible. The police are busy fighting their competitors, the
Army, in illicit business only to confirm the instinct for cash
among the state apparatuses. Indeed, terrorists are born of the
unfair working of society. And it can be local as well as global.

Thirdly, all this leaves us with a question of how to make
peaceful coexistence possible again after the Legian bombing. The
attack should be a turning point to return the state as the agent
of welfare, to recouple the state with the community; hence the
return of democracy. Presently this possibility seems to be far
off.

There are three kinds of untouchables in our society: Big
debtors, corruptors, and masterminds behind a series of riots and
attacks throughout the archipelago. Terrorists of the caliber of
those who planted the Legian bombs have joined the ranks. These
three categories of people will likely strive to maintain their
beyond-the-law status at whatever cost. The attempt to restore
the standing of the state must deal with these people first.

To "recouple" the state with the community takes more than
just making policies. At the base of this is a shattered telos,
an ultimate end -- a cause for taking care of our neighbors --
for respecting humanity regardless of religious, ethnic or other
primordial backgrounds. That telos is surely a rarity, but does
not at all disappear. A tourist in Bali quoted by this newspaper
said, "This act of terrorism should make everyone unite and stick
together, helping themselves and helping to support the people of
Bali and the economy."

Yet those who attempt to champion their own cause are prepared
to do otherwise. To salvage what remains of the telos after the
Legian attack will surely be a rough ride on the road to peace in
Indonesia.