Rampant bombs

Rampant bombs

Bombings have been occurring sporadically in Indonesia since the
country began its messy transition to democracy in 1998.

Again on Monday at 8:30 a.m. (01.30 GMT), a bomb explosion
rocked Indonesia's legislative assembly building, although it did
not claim any victim and caused only minor damage.

Yesterday's blast was deemed as the latest blow to Indonesia,
which is already grappling with Muslim militant groups and ethnic
rebellions.

Bombings are terrorist acts. Terrorist bombings can happen
any time and any place without warning.

Bombs are planted in strategic places, as what happened last
year at the Jakarta Stock Exchange building, which is one of the
modern economic centers in Indonesia.

Terrorizing the stock exchange with a bomb is an attempt to
frighten indirectly businessmen who would like to invest in the
country.

One of the most dramatic and catastrophic bombings in
Indonesia was the one in Bali in October last year, which claimed
more than 200 lives, mostly foreigners.

To ruin Indonesia's resort island of Bali is to ruin
Indonesia's image in other countries, whose people traditionally
know more about the island than Indonesia as a whole.

However, all things that have happened seem to have brought no
contentment to the hearts of the terrorists.

All of these facts have led us to believe that the police are
unable to identify the bombers and trace the sources of bomb raw
materials.

The police were admired for their swiftness in arresting the
perpetrators of the Bali bombing incident, but such admiration
could also make them fail to care about themselves.

Frankly speaking, the police remain unable to make us feel
safe and secure from bomb threats, which are increasingly getting
rampant. -- Media Indonesia, Indonesia

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The powerful House
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The powerful House

The House of Representatives (DPR) will soon be the most
powerful institution in this country.

It will have the authority to hold hostage whoever ignores its
summons to "clarify certain issues" which they may be unhappy
with, for the sake of national interests.

The authority is regulated in a bill on the structure and
position of the DPR, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), and
provincial legislative bodies (DPRD), which has just been
endorsed into law.

It is understandable that during the Old Order (Sukarno era)
and the New Order (Soeharto era), the DPR had failed to perform
its function to the fullest.

According to a number of legislators, the objective of the
bill is to make the DPR more powerful and more reliable so that
it would be respected by all components of the state.

However, the goal might be difficult to achieve because the
DPR could not be turned into a reliable legislative body by
giving it the right through overall improvement.

For the DPR to achieve overall improvement, it should first
meet the interests of the people. Second, it should be absolutely
clean from all practices of collusion, corruption and nepotism
(KKN), and third, it should prioritize national interests above
all else. -- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta

-- Chicago Tribune,