Posted on 17-10-2002

Terror's Aftermath in Indonesia
By SIDNEY JONES*

After Sept. 11, there was a sense among Americans that the country had to
come together for comfort, for protection and for rebuilding. The reaction
in Indonesia to the Bali bombings has been very different, and it speaks to
the lack of faith that Indonesians have in their own government. It also
suggests that the United States and other nations with a significant
presence in Indonesia should redouble efforts to strengthen political
institutions here and demand accountability from government. Without more
popular support, the war on terror here is not going to be won.

In Bali itself, the overwhelming response has been anger at the army and
police. "They tricked us into thinking Bali was safe, and look what
happened," one caller said on a local talk show. If distrust of security
forces is generally high around the country, it took a quantum leap in Bali
after Saturday night. Policemen in Indonesia stand no chance of being
turned into heroes the way New York's Finest were; the zero credibility of
the two institutions on the front lines of combating terrorism does not
make the government's task any easier.

In Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra, where a separatist rebellion has
resulted in thousands of civilian casualties, a different kind of distrust
was voiced. "It's appalling that a civilian site was targeted," a local
lawyer told me. "But it's important not to jump to conclusions about who
was involved."

He remarked that the army tends to blame Acehnese whenever a bomb goes off.
He also cited the example of a local army commander who suggested Acehnese
rebels were behind a recent attack in North Sumatra when it was clear from
the beginning that the commander's own soldiers were responsible.

It used to be that if you wanted to bring down a business rival, a
political opponent or an obstreperous neighbor, you could just spread the
rumor that he was a Communist, and he would become an instant pariah.
Indonesians are so jaded by political labeling that they are not apt to
believe official statements about who may have been involved in the Bali
attack.

In a town near Poso, Sulawesi, where a communal conflict between Muslims
and Christians has raged for the last two years, a university lecturer said
his colleagues were saying that the Bali blast showed the incompetence of
civilian government. "It's very worrisome: they want Suharto back," he told
me, referring to the former president. I got the same reaction Monday in a
crowded minivan going from Pare-pare to Makassar in Sulawesi, a stronghold
of the former ruling party, Golkar. "Whatever you say about Suharto, at
least we felt safe," one passenger said.

With the assumption widespread that a Muslim organization is behind the
bombing, there is now real alarm about escalating ethnic and religious
violence and the government's ability to handle it. In Indonesia, there has
been very little rallying around the president, as there was in the United
States last year. On the contrary, if radio talk shows, politicians'
statements and informal conversations are any guide, President Megawati
Sukarnoputri's standing seems to have plummeted.

A Jakarta newspaper magnate had another reaction. In a televised
discussion, he warned that the government would be making a serious mistake
if it made fighting terrorism its main objective, at the expense of legal
reform and ending corruption. Neither he nor the passengers in the minivan
had any confidence in their government, but for very different reasons.

Extraordinary as this seems in the West, many Indonesians are convinced
that the United States sponsored the Bali bombing in order to convince
reluctant governments to join its war on terror and support an attack on
Iraq. Hard-line Muslims like Abu Bakar Bashir — said to be the head of
Jemaah Islamiyah — are not the only ones making this claim. The Bush
administration's pressure on Indonesia to take action against Muslim
terrorists, its policies in the Middle East and the presence of American
troops in the Philippines' Muslim South have all fueled suspicions in
conservative circles that Washington has an anti-Muslim agenda. Some
Indonesians seem to believe that the only organization with the capacity to
carry out such a devastating attack is the American government.

"American troops want to establish a presence in Indonesia," one
commentator said on a television panel Monday night. "They'll establish a
foothold by offering to help out with the investigation in Bali, and then
we'll see the influx." If some in Washington think that the Bali blast will
convert all skeptics to the need for more stringent antiterrorism measures,
they'll need to reconsider.

In Jakarta, there has been an outpouring of sympathy for the foreigners
killed, particularly for the many Australians who died. At the same time,
if foreigners are worried about coming to Indonesia now, some Indonesians
are also worried about having them in their midst.

Indonesia needs better governance at least as much as it needs improved
security. The risk is high that Jakarta's reaction to the Bali bombing will
be not only ineffective but counterproductive. Many advocates of political
reform in Jakarta have expressed fear over the last two days that new
antiterrorism legislation — now being drafted by the Megawati government —
will be an Indonesian version of the draconian internal security laws used
in Singapore and Malaysia.

This government has never lacked the laws to go after people reasonably
suspected of planning criminal acts. But it has lacked the will to use
them. To give the army and police more powers in a country widely
castigated for its corrupt legal system and weak political institutions is
to invite abuse.

On Oct. 27, the Consultative Group on Indonesia — the main consortium of
donor countries, led by the World Bank — will hold its annual meeting to
discuss how much aid to give to Indonesia. The group's meeting could send a
powerful message about international confidence in Indonesia. Donors will
be sympathetic to the need to bolster an already weak economy further
devastated by the bombing. Given what ordinary Indonesians are saying about
their own lack of confidence, however, the donors would do well to put
governance at the top of their agenda.

* Sidney Jones is director of the Indonesia project of the International
Crisis Group, a policy research organization.