The suicide bomb attacks in three churches in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday increasingly affirm that terrorism remains a real threat in Indonesia. The incidents, which killed 13 people, including children.
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ANTARA FOTO/M RISYAL HIDAYAT
A bomb squad officer investigates on Sunday (13/5/2018) the site of the explosion at the Saint Mary Immaculate (SMTB) Catholic Church of Surabaya on Jl. Ngagel Madya in Surabaya, East Java. The East Java Police stated there were three nearly simultaneous explosions at three churches in Surabaya shortly before mass on Sunday.
The suicide bomb attacks in three churches in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday increasingly affirm that terrorism remains a real threat in Indonesia.
The incidents, which killed 13 people – including children – happened five days after police officers were held hostage at the National Police’s Mobile Brigade headquarters (Mako Brimob) in Kelapa Dua, Depok, West Java. The 36-hour standoff led to the deaths of the five police officers, who were executed by terror inmates.
After the incident at Mako Brimob, Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko emphasized that the state guaranteed the safety of its citizens and a number of national and international agendas, Kompas reported. Many parties hoped that after the incident, intelligence agencies will be on higher alert to prevent further terrorist acts.
But less than a week later, suicide bombings struck three churches in Surabaya. For terrorists, one successful attack is a great success. While for the intelligence agencies, their previous success in thwarting terrorist acts is meaningless when one attack escapes detection.
We hope the police will soon be able to uncover the mastermind behind the suicide bomb attacks. Nation Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian revealed in Surabaya that the suicide bombings were carried out by one family who had lived in the city.
The attacks should be a reminder to strengthen our unity as fellow children of the nation. All parties should be able to restrain themselves and not be provoked by various statements on social media, whose degree of truth cannot be accounted for. It takes sanity of its own to filter various contents on social media.
The suicide bomb attacks are a crime against humanity that must be condemned as loudly as possible. The attacks on humanity, which has the potential to destroy the fabric of Indonesia, are not worth politicizing for momentarily political interests, let alone for the sake of democratic contestation.
It is time for the citizens of the nation, down to the neighborhood and community units, to cooperate with authorities to anticipate the threat of terrorism. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo\'s order to the National Police has been very clear: uncover the actors and the root of terrorism!
In order to do this, National Police chief Tito has also requested the help of Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto to uncover the terrorist network.
We hope their efforts to jointly tackle terrorism in Indonesia can speed up deliberations on the revision of the Terrorism Law being discussed by the House of Representatives since 2016. It is time to complete the revision, which was filed after the Thamrin bombing attacks in Jakarta in 2016, as an answer for citizens of the nation against the growing threat of terrorism in Indonesia.
