Medan's bomb

Medan's bomb

Other communities might consider Medan's reaction to the
latest bombings. People seem to realize that the church bombings
were not motivated by religious conviction, and, therefore, they
haven't felt compelled by mistaken religious identity and pride
to engage in face-saving revenge. (Instead people suspect the
hidden hand of nonsubversive forces behind the bombings, with New
Order dictator as the favorite target of speculation).

Governor T. Rizal Nurdin was prepared for crisis, and quickly
set into motion a rapid response emergency network that allowed
him to reach the right community leaders promptly, and through
them to send a unified message to their constituents. That
message was, "Don't panic, don't be manipulated by criminals and
provoked to reactionary violence which will only hurt your
community."

These bomb blasts call less for religious tolerance -- that is
of course a given -- than for uncompromising rejection of the
tyranny and terror tactics of faceless, nameless cowards. Because
of effective promotion by community leaders working visibly
united for the common good, in Medan, people seem generally to
understand this. Other communities might consider the Medan
experience.

DONNA K. WOODWARD

Medan, North Sumatra