At first blush, the attacks seemed to fit a pattern of Muslim-versus-Christian violence that, in recent months, has wracked parts of the Indonesian archipelago. But according to police investigators in Jakarta, the careful coordination of the blasts – and their nationwide scale – exceed the capabilities of any known group of indigenous Islamic extremists acting on their own. Indeed, the precision attacks convinced many officials it was the work of supporters of deposed President Suharto’s “New Order” regime – including military operatives hoping to spark a destabilizing spiral of religious bloodshed. “I believe there are powerful people from the New Order behind the bombings,” Defense Minister M. Mahfud said last week.
Suharto stepped down in May 1998. Since then his successors have been struggling to replace his three-decades-old autocracy with democratic institutions. But for the reformers, Indonesia’s legacy of corruption and cronyism is a Gordian knot. Beyond that, the current government of President Abdurrahman Wahid has behaved erratically and, at times, ineptly. It now faces many challenges – an economic crisis, separatist movements and a tough fight to convict Suharto’s cronies of plundering government coffers. Wahid denounced the attacks, calling them “the last breath of those who fear that if the government can remain stable, we will enter a new era of economics awakening and democracy.”
After the attacks, worried religious leaders called for calm. They hoped to prevent further violence during the holiday season; as it happened, Christmas and the Muslim celebration of Idul Fitri fell in the same week. Father Frans Magnis Suseno, a Roman Catholic intellectual, implored all Christians to ‘close ranks with those from other religions, especially Muslims, [who] are not at all involved" in the bombing incidents. Cardinal Julius Carmoatmodjo, Jakarta’s most senior Catholic figure, added: “Even if we know who is behind the bombings, I urge all Christians to forgive.”
Police got one break that may help to unravel the terrorist plot. At least five people believed to be bomb makers were present when on of the devices inadvertently exploded in a rented house in the west Java city of Bandung. Three people were killed and two hospitalized. The survivors are considered suspects in the case. What’s more, two unexploded bombs found in Jakarta, and defused by police, were delivered in shopping bags from a well-known Bandung store. Police say Bandung was apparently the location of at least one “bomb factory.”
Whether authorities can make further headway in the investigation is not certain. Indonesian police have yet to solve a number of high-profile bomb blasts over the past half year, including one that exploded beneath the Jakarta Stock Exchange and another that seriously injured the Philippine ambassador to Indonesia. The masterminds behind the latest attacks may be warning authorities not to pursue graft charges against Suharto-era figures too aggressively. For the moment there’s little danger of that. Three weeks ago Suharto’s fugitive son Tommy – who has been on the run for weeks after being sentenced to 18 months on corruption charges – was detained by police in east Java. But he was immediately released. Until Indonesia’s judicial system starts working at least as efficiently as its criminals, the country will remain jittery.
