Sacred cows

Sacred cows

The public has since long lost even the slightest confidence
in the police and security apparatuses, who have the authority to
investigate the recent bombings in the country. It is therefore
entirely appropriate for the public to demand that the chief of
the Jakarta Police, the chief of the National Police and the
chief of the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) resign.

Acts of terrorism by bombings are instruments used to preserve
certain interests, and in the current Indonesian context the
interests are in the political and economic domain. People with
economic privileges who are now becoming politically
disadvantaged are resisting through terror.

All the components who make up this nation must begin to learn
to try to win through ethical means and to accept defeat in a
spirit of chivalry. As a self-respecting nation, dialog is for us
the most honorable instrument to use. Terror, in whatever form,
never wins because it only gives rise to a growing resistance.

Unfortunately, the police lack the courage to arrest the
bombers, even though there is an unspoken belief among the public
that the culprits are sitting right under their noses.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta