Mourning the innocent victims of terrorism

Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Staff Writer, Jakarta, korpur@yahoo.com

Tutty, Rasyidah and the parents of Chandra Tirta Wijaya understand very well the threat of terrorism and have much more empathy for the victims of violence than Indonesian political leaders who boast that Indonesia is a terrorist-free nation. They are the real victims of terrorism and violence, begging for justice but only receiving lip service.

To Tutty, Rasyidah and the parents of Chandra, one might ask how they can endure the pain after losing their beloved son, daughter or parents, while trying to understand that they will never return. To them, the wound is more painful in knowing that their loved ones were innocent victims. Neighbors and friends come for a while to console you. But after that you must bear the grief alone, most likely until the end of your life.

This feeling is strongly felt in the United States, especially by those who lost their husbands, wives, children, relatives or best friends in the Sept. 11 human tragedy. The nation will commemorate the catastrophe to remember the victims on Wednesday (U.S. time).

Thousands of innocent victims were killed when terrorists crashed two planes into the World Trade Center in New York and another passenger plane into the Pentagon on Sept. 11 last year. There is not one single religion that teaches its followers to kill other people, moreover innocent ones. These acts of terror were a blatant humiliation of the most basic principle of humanity.

President George W. Bush has worked very hard to bring the terrorists or the people behind the unbelievable massacre to justice. World leaders sent their condolences, and President Megawati was the first leader from a predominantly Muslim nation to go to Washington to offer the nation's cooperation in combating terrorism.

What about Indonesia's efforts to enforce the law against terrorism here at home? For five years, Tutty has not given up the search for her son Yani Avri, who went missing in April 1997 after the military allegedly abducted him along with several anti-Soeharto activists. Many of them were returned alive, such as legislator Haryanto Taslam. Tutty's son was only a bus conductor and she does not understand why Yani was abducted.

"If he is still alive, please return my son to me. And if he is dead, please return his corpse so I can bury him properly," the elderly woman said, repeating her appeals to the military and police on public occasions. Her tears mean nothing for those responsible for her misery.

Rasyidah, 24, a resident of Mutong in Pidie regency in Aceh, has traveled abroad, including to Japan, to appeal for international help in ending the suffering of the Acehnese from the atrocities there. She knows that Indonesian politicians, most of whom are Muslim like her, are indifferent to the fate of devout Muslims in the rebellious province.

At a conference held in Tokyo last year, Rasyidah testified that in March 1998, she along with her mother, her elder sister and baby niece were tortured by the military near her village. She also lost her father in 1992 after the military accused him of being a supporter of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Her mother is still missing.

"I was raped in front of my mother and my elder sister. The soldiers electrocuted my breasts and vagina," Rasyidah said in her testimony.

In Jakarta, former classmates of the late Chandra Tirta Wijaya have not been able to contact Chandra's parents since his tragic death in January last year. After two weeks in a coma, the 16- year-old boy succumbed to death at St. Carolus Hospital. He was the victim of a bomb that exploded in front of the St. Yosef Church in East Jakarta, moments after he celebrated Christmas mass with his parents on Dec. 24.

The Chinese-Indonesian family sold their house in East Jakarta and many family friends do not know where they live now.

"Maybe they are still too traumatized over their son's death or they want to forget that terrible moment," said one of Chandra's friends.

Americans have a strong government with the technology, money, power and everything it needs to punish the perpetrators of the attacks against the States. They have the right to uphold justice, but we hope that they will not victimize innocent victims who know nothing about the devil's deeds.

The U.S. government has asked other countries, often while swallowing what they preach about human rights values, to cooperate with them in eradicating terrorism. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad won back U.S. favor after arresting alleged Islamic fundamentalist groups in Malaysia, many of whom were his political enemies.

In Indonesia, victims continue to fall in Aceh, Poso, Maluku and Papua and in other places, following the government's inability to stop state terrorist acts and human rights abuses. Thousands of Muslims and Christians have killed each other in Maluku and Central Sulawesi, while thousands of people lost their lives in Aceh.

These victims and their families may also hope that the U.S. will help them end the violence and bring those guilty of rights abuses to court.

Americans are not alone. Civilized nations and their people share the hope that terrorism will no longer be allowed to exist. However, they are much luckier than Indonesians. The U.S. government has done much and will continue to do more to protect its citizens. In Indonesia, the victims of terrorism bear the burden alone and are lucky if they are not subjected to the blame-the-victim tendency, which is common here.

As John Lennon used to sing in Imagine: "You may say I'm a dreamer". Truth and justice for Indonesian victims of terrorism, it seems, can only be imagined.